Dark Past, Shadowed Future
by BlazingHeartz
Summary: Shortly after learning the lost memories of his past, Shadow is left with the prospect of an unknown future. What will his journey of discovery reveal to him? And what part do the Chaos Emeralds play?
1. The Beginning

*Blazie's Public Service Announcement: Welcome, and thanks for stopping by Dark Past, Shadowed Future! There are a couple of things that you need to know before continuing on. First, this story is officially discontinued. So, there is nothing more to be said after Chapter 7, despite what the closing note says. Why? Because this story did not go the way I wanted it to. I mean, the general plotline is alright and everything, but how I went about it was all wrong. To the point that I lost all willingness to try and fix it, so I just basically killed it. Second, I wrote this as a freshman, so my writing style is nothing you'd wanna give a Pulizer prize to, trust me. I can't even look at it to read it, and I'm forcing to keep my eyes forward as I type this little message up. So, please don't flame me for that, I know my writing sucks here, but it's your own perogative to continue reading. I'm not forcing you to, and I'd actually recommend that you didn't. I'm sure you'd like to keep your lovely eyes within their sockets for a few decades, I dunno. Well, with those things in mind, go ahead with reading if you so choose, and do try your best to keep your last meal within the confines of your stomach! lol*

**We begin our tale at a shoreline setting, nearing sunset, and find a black figure sitting alone on a wooden dock, lost in thought. As we get closer, the creature is revealed to be a hedgehog, black and red in color. His blood-red eyes stare unwavering out into the vastness of the water, as if it will give him the answers he is most desperately searching for...**

_Who am I? Really?_ It was a question that haunted him for as far back as he can remember, which in his case isn't far back at all. Over the course of his time, however, he did discover a lot about his past, but that left him nothing about the future.  
"Hmm, hmm," he laughed to himself, breaking the eternal stare that overtook him. "Stupid question." To him, his duty was to save the planet from the evil alien empire that wanted to destroy them all, and that was taken care of, right? A better question, he thought, was,  
_What now?_ His future was a blank canvas before him. Returning to look over the water, he pondered his options at this point.  
_Do I join the heroes, who always throw themselves selflessly into the thick of battle, fighting for whatever they think is right?_ While dwelling on this, his mind drifted to show him a picture of the blue hedgehog that he had countless encounters with. They were each other's arch-enemy, and the thought of the two of them suddenly just joining together was enough to cause the black hedgehog to shake his head, trying to erase the blue hedgehog from his mind.  
_No, definitely not. _Then if not with the heroes, then who? The villains? The idea intrigued him, but that feeling soon left. What was to be gained from villainy? Power? Money?  
_Overrated, _he thought to himself, returning to look at the horizon. And besides, all that would happen is having an unending battle between him and that pathetic hedgehog, causing more pain than it would be worth. But, if not with the heroes or villains, then what was he to do?  
_I could go my own way, _he considered. _But what would I accomplish? What would the purpose be? What... why..._  
The perplexed hedgehog then held his head in his hands, as the minutes seemed to take hours, all the while being haunted by what's and why's.

*Awww...how sad.... I blame Sega for this! : /*

Meanwhile, a female figure walked through the jungle setting behind where the hedgehog sat. This silhouette is not a human either, but appears to be like a bat. She has a white face with large ears, and a set of sky-blue eyes that revealed this character's sarcastic nature. She also has a pair of black, devilish wings that suit someone with her attitude. As for clothes, she wore a pink top in the shape of a heart and tight black pants. Also on her were long white gloves and white high-top boots with two pink hearts on them. Her eyes spotted the hedgehog on the dock and gave a sly smile while quickening her pace. She found who she was looking for.

*Ooh! Who it could be!*

After what seemed like an eternity, the black hedgehog came to a realization, causing him to stir. "Enough is enough," he said, standing up. "Sulking isn't going to solve anything. If there is a future out there for me, then I guess I gotta go find it!" Unknown to him, the other figure had crept to the dock. Slowly, she sneaked over till she was nearly arm's length away and nervously called out to him,  
"Shadow?"  
"What the-" Shadow said, simultaneously whipping around and smacking his pursuer square on the cheek with his hand, purely out of reflex. She was sent flying to the ground a few feet away, a red mark where she was attacked. Shadow looked at her with wide eyes, as she was someone he recognized.  
"Rouge?! What are you... I mean.... why are you..." Trying to explain himself, a strange feeling circulated throughout Shadow's body, disabling his ability to speak. This sensation was foreign to Shadow, and it made him feel like... it was a bad thing to hurt her, only adding to his confusion. He never felt like this when he knocked Sonic around, but with Rouge, it was different. All that mattered to him now was to try to make things right, hoping that that would remove the stomach-churning pain he was feeling.  
"Here." Shadow offered out his hand to help her up. She slapped it away swiftly.  
"I can get myself up, thank you," Rouge said with bitter politeness, standing up while still holding on to her cheek.  
"You know, that really wasn't necessary." She was rubbing where it was red.  
"It's not like I had any intention to, you just scared me. If you wanted my attention, you could have gotten it in a less subtle way."  
"Look," she sighed. "I didn't come here to argue. I was just sent to get you."  
"Sent? By who?"  
"There's a lot to explain, and luckily for you it takes a while to get to where we're going. Now follow me, and I'll straighten out as much as I can."  
Rouge flew off in the direction she had come, with Shadow skating behind her. She had a _lot_ of explaining to do.

*Gasp! Did Shadow just show- dare I say it- _emotion_?! Double gasp! ^_^*

The twosome had traveled quite some ways through the now darkening jungle. Suddenly, Rouge had landed, stopping their progress.  
"What's the matter?" Shadow asked, looking around for any signs of danger.  
"Nothing's the matter; I just figured that now's a good a time as any to answer any questions you may have." She motioned her hand to make Shadow follow her again, except now they were walking. When they had gotten to a decent pace, Shadow asked,  
"So who sent you to come and get me?"  
Rouge chuckled quietly to herself. "C'mon, think. Who would be the one person who would send me to find _you_."  
"The doctor?" he said after a moment's thought.  
"Bingo."  
"But why you? I mean, aren't you still with the government?"  
"I am, but he gave me an offer I couldn't refuse," Rouge said with a smile. "I'm still a treasure hunter after all. And I..." Rouge's smile faded at this last sentence. She turned her head away from Shadow, feeling the warmth rush to her cheeks. She was blushing, and she knew it, too, but she wouldn't allow Shadow to see that, or let him know what she was thinking about saying next.  
"And what?" Shadow asked, his eyes betraying a little of the curiosity he felt. She allowed her face to cool before responding. Rouge took a deep breath, looked bravely into Shadow's confused eyes, and said defiantly,  
"Nothing."  
Without warning, she flew off again, only much faster this time. Shadow stared after her for a minute, bewildered, then took off after her, having to skate at his near-fastest just to keep up.

*Hmm... I wonder what Rouge had on her mind... ; )*

Twenty or so minutes later, the two of them had reached a large clearing.  
"This is it," Rouge said flatly. It was the first time she and Shadow talked since their last chat.  
"Hmph. It doesn't look like much," Shadow said, folding his arms, obviously unimpressed with the lack of fortress in his surroundings.  
"Trust me, there's a lot more than meets the eye." Rouge walked over to a bush, and pushed in the center of a purple flower. An intercom appeared quickly out of the bush.  
"Name?" a robotic voice asked through the intercom.  
"Rouge. Rouge the Bat."  
"What is your purpose here?"  
"I have business with the doctor. He sent me to retrieve-" Rouge flashed Shadow a quick glance with her blue eyes, which Shadow had immediately caught with his red ones, looking at her with interest. Back to the intercom, Rouge finished softly, "-Shadow."  
"You may proceed," the voice had answered, and in a matter of seconds, the intercom was replaced by a narrow chute that could only fit one person at a time.  
"Now listen, Shadow," Rouge explained. "This thing goes kind of fast, so be careful. I'll go first."  
Shadow simply nodded once, and allowed Rouge to climb in first. Once she stepped in, she turned around, and was whisked swiftly downwards. Shadow followed, and he was pulled down with such a force that it caught him off guard. In a matter of seconds he was sent through a network of transporting tubes that seemed to connect to everywhere in the facility. The system swiftly deposited Shadow into a metallic hallway, and the sudden stop made him stumble when he hit the steel floor. He heard giggling, and discovered that Rouge was already there, laughing athim.  
"Very smooth," she said suppressing a laugh. Shadow gave her an icy glare as he regained his balance, sending chills down her spine.  
"Hey, I was only messing with you. You've really gotta learn how to loosen up. Now follow me and I'll take you to Eggman."  
Rouge took off down the hall; Shadow easily caught up. After a few twists and turns through the base, Shadow asked,  
"Why does Eggman want me anyways?"  
"Your guess is as good as mine. All he told me to do was to find you. You're not the easiest person to track down, you know. It took me a few hours before I found you at that dock. Just out of curiosity, what were you doing there?"  
Shadow sighed as he closed his eyes, turning his head straight. He was hoping he would avoid this. There was no way that he would tell anyone what he was thinking back at the dock, especially Rouge. Suddenly his head perked up, having formulated a plan. Shadow slowly turned his head toward Rouge with a mischievous look on his face.  
"How about we make a deal?"  
"Oh, yeah? What kind of a deal?" Rouge met Shadow's smirk with one of her own.  
"I'll tell you what I was thinking at the dock..._ if_ you tell me what you were going to say to me back when we were in the jungle before you flew off."  
Rouge turned her head away, as her cheeks began to turn pink with embarrassment.

"Well, I... uh, it's just that..."  
"What? Can't you tell me?" Shadow asked mockingly.  
"I... just... oh look, we're here," she said with obvious relief.  
"Yes, how convenient for you..." he said, slightly disappointed.

*Drat! So close, Shadow!*

They stood in front of two iron doors, which Rouge knocked upon mercilessly.  
"Doctor? Doctor! It's Rouge."  
"And is Shadow with you?" a familiar voice asked from the other side.  
"Would I be here otherwise?! Of course I do!"  
"Just to verify," the voice began. "Shadow, if you're there, say 'Aye'."  
"There's no way I'm saying _that_," Shadow said, appalled by the suggestion.

"Eh, close enough. Come in."  
The two doors swung inward, revealing a gigantic, circular, metallic room. Along the walls were things like 3D maps of the world, radars, tracker systems, and other unidentifiable pieces of equipment, all adorned with flashing lights. There were also other doors on the walls, most likely leading to the rest of the fortress. In the center of the room was a platform with three or four steps, leading to a desk and a high-backed office chair. The desk only held a small laptop computer, and the chair was faced away from Shadow and Rouge, obscuring its occupant. As the twosome entered the room, the chair suddenly whirled around, revealing the figure to be Dr. Eggman himself.  
Eggman was an interesting character to behold. His body was the shaped like, well, an egg, with long arms and legs, while his head was disproportionate to his torso. It held a pair of small, black eyes, a prominent nose, and an unnaturally large brown mustache. He wore a long-sleeved red coat, black pants and shoes, white gloves, and a pair of goggles perched on his head. He stood up, welcoming Shadow and Rouge with, quite literally, open arms.  
"Welcome, Shadow and Rouge. I'm so glad you could make it," he said politely.  
"Yeah, yeah," Rouge said quickly, waving Eggman's words away. "You have my payment, right?"  
Eggman sighed. "Rash as always, aren't we, Rouge?" She shot him a look. "But yes, of course. Eggbot-" At this command, an orange robot with a black sack came out through one of the doors."-give bat-girl here her payment." The robot obeyed, handing the sack to Rouge, then left through the door it came from. Rouge reached in and pulled out a sapphire as big as her fist. Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle as much as the gem did as she gazed upon it. Shadow was caught up in this, a look of... admiration creeping on his face, because oddly enough, he found this to be very...  
"No, absolutely not!" he said quietly, snapping himself out of his trance. Unfortunately, Eggman and Rouge had heard what he said, and were now both looking at him with curiosity.  
"No what, Shadow?" Eggman asked politely.  
"Nothing." Shadow turned away from Eggman and Rouge, eyes closed and arms folded, refusing to look at either one of them. Eggman was becoming impatient.  
"You see, that's not an acceptable answer. Let's try again. No what, Shadow?"  
"Well, that's gonna have to be an acceptable answer, because that's still what you're gonna get." Shadow still stood as he had, and spoke just as calmly. Eggman had become angry at this point. He pounded the desk in frustration. The matter became less about what Shadow was thinking, and more about who had control of the situation- something Eggman was not willing to lose.  
"How DARE you defy me!! You will answer me when I talk to you!! For the last time: NO WHAT, SHADOW?!" Eggman shouted.  
Shadow was offended by these comments and became infuriated as well. His fists were clenched, and his red eyes bore straight into Eggman's, burning with a fury that no one could match. Both Rouge and Eggman were afraid.  
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! YOU CANNOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO!! I ONLY TAKE ORDERS FROM ME!! AND AS FOR YOUR STUPID QUESTION, NOTHING!!!!" He was about to attack Eggman when Rouge jumped in front him and grabbed onto both of his shoulders, pushing him back with all her might.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I think someone needs to calm down."  
Eggman seized the opportunity. "Yes, Shadow, listen to-" He was cut off by Rouge, who threw him a menacing glare from over her shoulder, hands still clamped firmly onto Shadow.

"Zip it. You've caused enough trouble. Listen to me, you two. I think we all got off on the wrong foot. First, let's put this little incident behind us. Now doctor, kindly explain why you brought me and Shadow here." She slowly released Shadow from her iron grip. He was breathing heavily with rage, but his eyes had softened a little.  
"Of course, Rouge, you're right," Eggman began calmly. "Now, the reason I had sent for you Shadow, you too Rouge, is because I need you to retrieve some...'property' for me."  
"And that property would just happen to be, oh I don't know, the Chaos Emeralds?" Shadow calmed down as well, shown by the hint of sarcasm in his voice.  
"Aherm, uh, yes, yes it is. Now as I was saying-"  
"Forget it," Shadow said, starting to walk away. He turned around when halfway between Eggman and the door and said, "That's the only reason we're worth anything to you- to be your personal Emerald collectors. Well, I refuse to believe that that's my only purpose, so you can count me out." He was almost to the door when Eggman remarked,  
"What if I told you I knew what your true purpose was?"  
Shadow stopped in his tracks, eyes widening. Eggman smirked at his own success of regaining control of the situation. There were so many questions that Shadow had. Could the doctor honestly know his purpose? Was this just a trap to get him to comply with Eggman's plan? But most importantly- Was he desperate enough to work for the doctor, even if it was a trap? Shadow sighed as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms.  
He was.  
"So... where is the first Emerald located..."  
Eggman clapped his hands once in jubilation. "That's the spirit! My radars have detected an Emerald in the vicinity of Station Square, perhaps in the Mystic Ruins. But it's too late tonight. You two can start first thing in the morning. Right now, however, you should get some sleep. I've had a room prepared for you to stay in for the time being. To get there, make your way to the East Wing by taking a right when you leave this room, make two lefts, a right, another left, and it's the third door on the right side. Got it?"  
Rouge headed towards the door. "Got it. C'mon, Shadow."  
Shadow nodded, and walked with Rouge out the door into the cool hallway.  
"I expect success out of you two!" Eggman called after them.  
Shadow flashed a small smile at this. "Things are gonna get _very_ interesting..." he thought as he and Rouge made their way down the endless corridors, thinking about how his life had managed to take such a drastic turn.

*Woot! I finally finished Part 1! Yay! I'll keep writing regardless if people read this, so expect Part 2 to come out soon! And I apologize to any Sonic fangirl out there for not including him in this one, but don't stop reading! He'll be in the next issue! Really! So don't send me questions and complaints, 'cause I won't care (if they're about Sonic at least). Well, that's all I have to say for now. See ya!*


	2. Enter Sonic

*Hey there adoring public! Thanks for coming back for Round 2! You're in for an interesting one today (or tonight, whenever you're reading this)! Like I promised, Sonic is in here, so brace yourselves… Another thing- please review this! I realize that I said not to last time, but I just meant about Sonic complaints! Sorry to confuse you! On with the story!*

After a series of twists and turns, Rouge and Shadow made it to their room.

"Don't we get separate rooms?" Rouge asked, nervousness detectable in her voice.

"I guess not. That's not a problem, is it?" Shadow definitely picked it up.

"No, it's not," she lied.

Shadow proceeded into the room first. There wasn't much there, just the essentials. The room was a metallic cube, containing two beds, a dresser, a nightstand at the head of each bed, a small, empty closet, and two intercoms by the beds. On each nightstand was a lamp and a digital alarm clock. The red numbers showed that it was 12:30 in the morning.

"Wow!" Rouge exclaimed, looking at the time. "Is it really that late?!"

Shadow didn't respond, and made his way to one of the beds and sat down. He wouldn't let it show, but sleep had started to take its hold on him. Shadow held his head up with his hand, and stared at the opposite wall, his mind beginning to fill with the same lonely questions as sleep slowly overtook him.

Rouge leaned in the doorway watching Shadow, who was apparently unaware. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Her body began to fill up with a unique kind of sadness. Looking into Shadow's deep red eyes when filled with such... loneliness was the only thing that brought it on. She wanted so bad to help him, but felt that she was incapable of doing so. That's what really hurt. Rouge looked away from Shadow, unable to hold his eyes in her gaze any longer. She closed her own eyes, and silently let the tears that had built up fall.

*Aww! Why do I have to hurt the characters like this? Curse my fingers for typing in this way! Alas, I gotta deal with the sorrow, though, if things are to get better... So let's just sit tight for now, kay?*

Meanwhile, Shadow was relentlessly questioning himself. However, it wasn't about his future. It was about what went on earlier- why he felt the many ways he did. What was that feeling he experienced at the dock, when he had hurt Rouge? Why did he feel it necessary to help her? And in the doctor's room, what was he feeling then? Why? How come he only felt those ways around Rouge? It couldn't be because-

His thoughts were interrupted by a sniffling noise to his right. He looked over and saw that Rouge had been crying to herself for whatever reason. Then suddenly, there it was again; that unbearable pain that he felt back at the dock, the one that urged him to try to do the right thing- whatever that may be. Shadow stood up and walked over to where Rouge was.

"What's wrong?" he said in the gentlest way he could manage.

Rouge's head snapped up, startled to see Shadow standing in front of her. She found a truly worried look in his eyes. At first, she couldn't understand why, but then it hit her. He had seen her crying. Quickly, Rouge wiped away any excess tears that were on her face, mentally beating herself up. How could she let this happen? Now all that was left for her to do was to try to get out of the situation as best as possible.

"Why is that any of you're business?" she asked haughtily as she made her way to the other side of the room, brushing by Shadow as she did so. That's when it happened. A strange wave of emotion coursed through Rouge's body with this contact. Excitement and restlessness overtook her mind. She couldn't stand still for some reason. All she wanted at that point was to... Then, the feeling left as swiftly as it came, leaving Rouge extremely confused. Little did she know, Shadow experienced the exact same thing.

Both Rouge's and Shadow's heads snapped up with this sensation, and they caught each other's eyes with their own. Their eyes held shock and confusion, building with each passing second they stood there frozen, unable to move. It was as if some sort of... connection was being formed, and neither of them was prepared for it.

Rouge was the first to come to, and she snapped the invisible line that held their eyes together. Shadow had also come back, putting his hand to his forehead, dazed by what just happened.

"Uh...I think...uh, we need...sleep..." Rouge said, struggling to make a sentence.

"Uh...y-yeah..." Shadow responded, with the same difficulty.

Rouge staggered off towards the closet, rather than the bed, (she was still a bat, after all) while Shadow stumbled to the nearest bed. He kicked off his shoes, got under the covers, and tried to sleep. All attempts were futile. His mind was filled with curiosity as to what had happened, unable to stop. It was going to be a _long_ night.

*Ah, the connection grows ever stronger... ^_^*

**It's the next day, and we warp to a rocky scene. There is a cave to the far east, a wooden staircase leading to a train terminal, a jungle to the south, and an ocean to the north. Most importantly, though, is a small hut on the top of a hill to the west. There is a long runway heading towards the sea, and is the source of the sound of metal hitting metal, like someone is working on something. This is the Mystic Ruins.**

"Is it ready _now_, Tails?"

"Not yet, Sonic! These things take time."

Tails, the yellow twin-tailed fox, was busy fixing Sonic's plane, the Tornado II, after somehow being brutally mangled yet again. Sonic, the lightning-fast blue hedgehog, was pacing back and forth, not the most patient person in the world.

"Well, what's taking so long?" Sonic whined, stopping to face Tails. Exasperated, Tails threw down the wrench he was working with. Sonic was startled by this.

"Look," Tails said, trying hard to keep his voice calm. "I'm only gonna say this once. The plane was pretty beat up when you brought it to me, and I can only work so fast. You're lucky I've got this much done in the amount of time I've spent on it. Now, I'm working as fast as I can. It may not be as fast as you like it, but too bad. You're just gonna have to wait. I'll tell you when I'm finished. So please, just zip it for the time being." Tails picked up the wrench and returned to his work. Sonic glared at him for a minute, then leaned against the opposite wall with folded arms, his emerald-green eyes staring at nothing in particular.

*Uh… I have nothing catchy or clever to say here… Moving on…*

During this, Rouge and Shadow had followed Eggman's signal, which lead them to the Mystic Ruins. Neither one of them discussed what had happened the night before; preferring to believe that it never took place.

"Are you sure it's here?" Rouge asked, flying behind Shadow.

"Yeah, I can feel it."

"Can you really? How?"

"I don't know how. I can just sense when they're close. Now follow me. It's over at that hut." Shadow sped up, with Rouge tagging behind. They snuck around to the side of the house that had a window and Shadow peaked inside.

"Shoot," he said quietly. "Someone's in there."

"Who?"

"That fox-boy and-- Sonic." He tightened his fists at the mention of Sonic's name.

"Interesting. What do suppose we do?"

"We keep a close eye on them until they slip up."

"Sounds good to me."

They each took turns looking through the window, not wanting to share the small space and risk going through what happened last night again.

Inside the hut, Tails was nearly finished with the plane's repairs. All he needed to do was to fit it with the power source.

"Where're you going?" Sonic asked when Tails started to leave.

"I've gotta get the power supply for the plane."

"You don't mean a Chaos Emerald, do you?"

Shadow's ears perked up. "_Soon enough_," he thought.

"Yeah, I do. Give me a sec." Tails went to another part of the hut, disappearing out of Shadow's line of sight. Shadow began laughing to himself.

"What? What is it?" Rouge asked.

Shadow half-turned and said, "We've almost got what we're looking for."

"Really?! Let me see!"

"Hold on." Shadow held up his hand to stop Rouge, then he turned back to look in the house. Tails had come back with a glowing purple jewel- one of the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow smiled at the thought of the Emerald soon being his.

"Tails, how do you always manage to find these things?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know. Luck, I guess. Now I'll let you do the honors." Tails handed the Emerald over to Sonic, who then went to put it in the plane.

This was too perfect. Shadow stood down from the window and began to take steps backward. Rouge looked at him curiously.

"Shadow, what are you-"Before she finished, Shadow dove through the window, leaving Rouge stunned. In the blink of an eye, Shadow attacked the two of them, first kicking Tails through the wall that held the window, then nearly simultaneously kicking Sonic through the opposite wall. Catching on, Rouge flew up and caught Tails in mid-air. When they landed, she held him tightly with one hand, and covered his mouth with the other. Tails panicked, and tried to break free of Rouge's grasp.

She whipped him around and knelt down so she was at eye-level with him. "Now listen here, fox-boy," she said coolly. "Keep quiet, and we just might let you live." Tails looked at her with wide, terrified eyes, and instantly stopped struggling.

Sonic had crashed face-first into the ground some fifty feet away, still clutching the Emerald. Pain coursed through every point in his body, temporarily paralyzing him. Slowly, he gathered enough strength to lift his scraped face off the ground and look at his outstretched arm. Sonic managed a faint smile- he was still holding onto the Emerald. However, Shadow casually walked over to where Sonic laid and stepped on his arm, forcing him to drop the Emerald. Shadow bent over to pick it up, making sure that he kept the pressure on. Looking over Sonic's weak form, Shadow smirked and began laughing to himself. Sonic glared at him in the meanest way he could. Shadow took notice of this, and merely pressed down harder with his foot, causing Sonic to flinch away in pain.

"You know," Shadow began, lightly tossing up the Emerald. "You should really be more careful with these. Who knows when a miscreant will come along and just _snatch_ it away from you? Rouge-" She soon appeared, dragging a scared Tails behind her. "Leave him! We don't need him." She shoved Tails on the ground, whimpering with pain.

"Our work here is done. It's time for us to go. But before we do-" Shadow bent down and whispered into Sonic's ear, "If you want even the slightest chance of beating me, you're going to have to do _way _better than that." He gave Sonic a quick, mocking smile, then got up to leave. Shadow finally released the pressure on Sonic's arm when he walked away, but purposefully collided his foot with the back of Sonic's head for one last blow. Rouge joined up with Shadow, and started to turn back the way they had come. She was stopped by a hand that was placed on her shoulder, which was released soon afterwards, since that strange sensation began to build in both of them again.

"Wait," Shadow said. "I've got a faster way."

"Right," Rouge said.

Shadow simply nodded, and reluctantly grabbed onto Rouge's wrist. With the Emerald, he used Chaos Control, and the two of them disappeared in a flash.

*Go Shadow!! : D Way to beat up that hedgehog! (Sonic-hater, sorry!)*

Tails then began to stir, fairing a little better than Sonic did. He slowly limped over to where Sonic was, and froze with terror when he didn't see his figure move.

"S-Sonic?" Tails called out, his voice shaky. No response. He tried again. Nothing. Tails called him one more time, and was relieved when he heard muffled words come from Sonic.

Tails leaned in close to hear what Sonic was saying. He was cursing; mad at himself more than anyone. Sonic looked over and noticed Tails standing over him. He had a nervous look on his face. Sonic's own face instantly softened, feeling ashamed for scaring Tails even more than he already was.

"Hey, buddy," Sonic began weakly, managing a small smile. "I'm not mad at you. I was just- Ah!" He had tried to get up, but the pain was too much for him. Tails went over and grabbed Sonic's arm, slowly and painfully helping him get to his feet.

"Thanks." Tails, however, was still looking at him with wide eyes. "What, what is it?"

Sonic followed Tails' gaze, and his eyes grew just as wide. They were both shocked to discover how beat up Sonic was- nearly the entire front side of him was either bruised or scraped.

"Look, Tails, I'm gonna be fine."

Tails wasn't reassured. "C'mon, Sonic, we've gotta get you medical attention or something!"

"Seriously, I'll be alright."

"_Seriously_, we've gotta get you help!"

"Tails, I'll-"

"Sonic, we're-"

"Honestly, I'm-"

"No, you're-"

"Yes, I'm-"

This went on for a good five minutes or so, with Sonic eventually giving in.

"Alright, Tails, you win," Sonic sighed, slightly smiling. "Lead the way." Tails headed back toward the hut, with Sonic slowly limping behind. His smile faded with the thought of who was responsible for his injuries.

_I'll get you for this, Shadow,_ he thought, an angry glare on his face. _If it's the last thing I do._

*Uh, oh... Sonic's got a vengeance...*

Shadow and Rouge warped back to Eggman's base, right outside the large iron doors. Shadow shoved them open, causing Eggman to jump out of his seat.

"Hello, doctor," Shadow said smoothly, casually tossing up the Emerald.

"I, er, uh, well..." Eggman began, unable to form a sentence. He then spotted the Emerald. "Aherm! I see you've gotten the Emerald. Very nice work you two." Now he started on a monologue, with a fiendish tint in his voice. "Things are starting off nicely. All I need are the other six, then I will be able to control the world! And Sonic can't do anything to stop me!"

"Excuse me doctor, but you _do _remember your part of the bargain, right?" Shadow said slyly.

"Yes, yes, of course," Eggman snapped. "I haven't forgotten. But first you must bring me more of those Emeralds. Then I will tell you everything."

"So what do you want us to do with this one?" Rouge cut in, stepping into the room. Eggman considered this for a moment.

"I suppose you can hold onto that for now. One won't be of any use to me."

"Really? How kind of you," she said.

"Yes. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I was in the middle of some private affairs before you _rudely_ barged in." He gave a quick glance to Shadow, who merely folded his arms.

"Very well. Good night, doctor." Rouge turned to make her way down the long corridors, but Shadow stopped her. He grabbed onto her wrist, and in an instant, they were back in their room.

*Ha ha! Gotta love evil monologues! (No matter how lame they are…) I'll try to work on that. Sorry you had to suffer…*

Once inside, Shadow quickly released Rouge, and walked over to the dresser. Rouge sat on one of the beds, and watched Shadow as he put the Chaos Emerald in the top drawer, her mind lost in thought. He sensed her eyes watching him, and felt as though she could see right through him. Shadow took a quick glimpse at Rouge, and found that her eyes were filled with distraction as they danced up and down his figure. He didn't like it.

"What?" he snapped. Her eyes came back into focus as they looked into Shadow's, apparently undeterred by his tone of voice.

"Mmm... nothing. I was just thinking," Rouge said calmly. She shifted on the bed so she was leaning against the wall.

"About what?" He walked toward her, nervousness almost detectable in his voice.

"Well..." she began. "I was just thinking whether or not what you did today was... appropriate."

Shadow rolled his eyes and sat on the other bed, his back facing Rouge. "And what would you have done differently?" he asked coldly, offense hanging on every word.

"I don't know. I just thought that could've been handled in a calmer manner." Shadow said nothing. The two of them sat in silence, tension building with each moment. Finally, Rouge spoke up.

"He's gonna come after you, you know." Her voice was quiet, and almost sounded worried.

"Hmph. I can take him," he sneered.

"But what if you..."

Shadow turned around and looked directly at Rouge. "If I what?"

Rouge closed her eyes, and meekly said, "Couldn't?"

Shadow resented this. What did she mean, if he _'couldn't'_? Surely she didn't mean-

Suddenly he jumped down from the bed to the other one, pinning Rouge's shoulders down with his hands, their faces mere inches apart. Shadow's eyes flared with rage; Rouge's quivered with fear.

"Are you saying that I wouldn't be able to defeat him?" His voice was low and threatening.

"No, I-"

"Are you implying that I'm-- weaker than _him_?!" Shadow was getting louder.

"No, that's not what I meant!"

He was practically shouting now. "Oh, really?! Then what _did_ you mean, hm?!"

"What I meant was, what if you couldn't beat him like you did this time, unscathed? What if he... he..." She was almost in tears.

"Spit it out!"

"Hurt you?"

Shadow's anger instantly disappeared, replaced by pure shock, which reflected back through his widening eyes. Slowly he released Rouge from his grasp, and haphazardly made his way to the door. Rouge buried her head in her hands, trying to force out a sentence between sobs. Shadow's hand was on the doorknob when his ears picked up her words.

"If he were... to ever... hurt you.... I would.... would just..." Her words were cut off by more tears. Shadow cringed, that nauseating feeling returning for the third time. He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, unknown to Rouge. Her only indication of her being alone was the slam of the metal door, to which she looked at with slight relief. For the first time since encountering Shadow, she felt secure.

*End! Well t_hat_ was quite the interesting chapter, now wasn't it? If this bummed you out, sorry, but this had to be done. I _will _try to make things cheerier, but it may take some time. So all I ask of you, reader, is to bear with me for the time being. Just think, Part 3 will be out soon! Yay! And from what I'm planning, there will be very little sadness! Double Yay! Well, that's all for now. See ya!*


	3. Strike Two

*YAY!!! Trilogy Time!!! I thank you all for coming back yet again readers. Oh, and just a quick note- there's more sadness than previously expected, so try to bear with me in this one. But please, continue reading! This is where things start to get really good!! Lastly, please review, and enjoy what you're about to see!*

Shadow stumbled down the hall, pressing one hand on the cold wall for support. The shock of what Rouge said was making his movement difficult. He had nowhere to go in particular, but just needed to get as far away from the room as possible. Eventually, the hallway led to a dead end, and he gratefully walked toward it. Shadow leaned against the wall and slowly slid down until he sat on the floor. He put his head in his hands and let the numerous questions he had blocked out finally invade his mind.

What was wrong with him? He never felt like this before. Then again, maybe it wasn't entirely him. Did Rouge have something to do with it too? Shadow let out an angry sigh, then punched the wall beside him out of frustration. He was tired of not knowing. However, his mind resumed torturing him with impossible questions. If Rouge was a part of it, then what part? And was there a way for him to somehow be... included?

Shadow shuddered with that thought. How could he think that? What _was_ he thinking? He surely wasn't thinking Rouge was...

As he thought of her, that feeling came over him again, the unbearable one that he had felt so many times before. Interestingly, it only happened when he thought about the times he hurt Rouge or when he was actually doing so. What was that feeling? Shadow thought deeply about this, then finally figured it out. It was guilt; something that he had heard about, but never actually experienced, until now. The pain escalated with each passing moment Shadow's thoughts rested on her, reaching its worst when the image of Rouge sitting alone in the room, crying over what happened to her- what _he _did- crossed his mind.

Abruptly, Shadow stood up with newfound determination. He was going to fix things, and this time, _actually _fix them. Shadow marched back to the room, hoping that that Rouge was still there, and that she didn't completely hate him.

*Oh Shadow, Rouge could never hate you! (Maybe be completely terrified of you, but that's beside the point.)*

Meanwhile, Rouge calmly laid back on the bed. Her mind began to fill with questions similar to what Shadow's had. What was wrong with her? She had never, _never _cried like that. Why was it so hard to control her emotions now? Maybe, she thought, it wasn't her at all. Could Shadow be the reason behind it? Maybe, she thought again. Maybe...

At that moment, Shadow reentered the room, to Rouge's surprise. She sat up, bracing herself for whatever he was going to dish out to her. However, Rouge began to loosen when she noticed Shadow's face. It was an unreadable expression, but she couldn't find any signs of hostility within it. Cautiously, Shadow moved to the other bed and sat down. He clasped his hands in his lap and stared at them intently, as if his life depended on it.

"Look," he began. He sounded nervous, unsure of what to say next. "I've been thinking, and..." He sighed and closed his eyes, finding what he was about to say difficult. Rouge sat patiently, waiting for some kind of continuation. However, none came.

"What?" she prompted gently. Shadow took in another deep breath, and quietly began again.

"I was just thinking, and realized that... how I've acted the past two days was... wasn't right."

"No, it's not that-" she started.

Shadow snapped his eyes open and looked straight into Rouge's own, silencing her. She was startled only for a slight moment, but Shadow had sensed it, and mentally punished himself for it. Why did he always make her afraid? That's not how he wanted her to feel. He wanted her to see him as someone who she could approach, someone who... But then, a voice in the back of his mind began to ask that accursed three-letter question- Why? Why did it matter to him what she thought?

"Because," he whispered to himself. Rouge looked at him with confusion.

"Because I-" he said again, holding his head in his hands. Slowly his frustration grew as he wrestled with the questioning voices torturing him. Rouge detected that Shadow's mood had shifted, and began to inch backward on the bed, afraid of what she took to be anger.

"Stop," he said, catching her movement. She obeyed, and remained frozen in place on the bed. After a brief moment, Shadow broke the silence between them.

"Listen," he started calmly, closing his eyes again. "As I said, I've been thinking, and realized that the way you've been... treated since we've met has been... less than perfect, and that's mostly because of me. So... I figured that I had to say... sorry."

*Awww!! How sweet!! I know this isn't a section break, but I just had to interject!*

Neither of them spoke for the longest time after that, or moved for that matter. Rouge couldn't help but stare at Shadow with wide eyes, trying to absorb what he just said. She couldn't believe that he said that- it was so unlike him. Perhaps that's why Rouge was so surprised by it. All this time, she thought he was annoyed by her, seeing how he always seemed edgy around her. But then again, maybe it was different. Maybe it had always been different, and she had just been too ignorant to understand it sooner. Either way, there was apparently more to Shadow than she had realized.

"Thank you." That was all she could manage to say. Shadow merely opened his eyes and looked at her with pensiveness.

"I've got an idea," he said, sounding almost as normal as if nothing had happened. "Let's start over, shall we? Hello there. My name's Shadow. And you are?" He held out his hand, slightly smiling. Rouge looked back and forth from Shadow's face to his hand, unsure of what to do. She then decided that it was best if all of what had occurred the past two days was forgotten. Rouge also began to smile. She took Shadow's hand with hers and shook it.

"I'm Rouge. It's nice to meet you."

Before long, however, that strange sensation from the night before began to emanate from where their hands met. Both recoiled them to their own sides, and each refused to look at the other. The two of them felt the same disappointment- things could never return to the way they used to be so long ago. Everything was different now, and they just have to learn to accept it.

After a time, Rouge's eyes fell onto the alarm clock on Shadow's nightstand, which showed the time to be 2:27 in the morning.

"I suppose we should get to sleep," Rouge said awkwardly. Shadow gave her a confused look. She quickly added, "It's 2:27." He glanced at Rouge's clock with surprise as to how late it was. Shadow simply nodded, and each went to their respective sleeping areas. However, it was going to be a difficult night for both of them. They were each kept awake by the reality of things being forever changed between them.

*Awww... Everything's different... But now, things can get interesting!! ; )*

The next morning, Shadow woke with a start. Eggman's voice was blaring through the intercom beside his bed.

"Shadow! Rouge! Come to my office immediately! There's something I need to tell you!!"

Shadow sleepily checked the time and snapped up with anger. It was 5:30 in the morning.

"I'm gonna kill him for this," he said menacingly. He got out of the bed and made his way over to the closet where Rouge was still asleep. Eggman's repeating message continued to drone through the speaker. Shadow punched it as he passed, shutting it up. However, the other one still filled the room with Eggman's voice.

Once he reached the closet, Shadow banged on the closed door, calling Rouge's name. He heard a thud from within, as if something fell.

"Ow!" a muffled voice yelled from inside. "What?!"

"Eggman wants us!" he shouted over the intercom's noise.

"What does he want?"

"I don't know, but it had better be important, or else..." Shadow's voice trailed off, his mind filled with possible threats for Eggman. Rouge watched him from behind the closet door as he stormed out of the room, laughing to herself.

"Definitely not a morning person," she said quietly as she left the room. Rouge had caught up with Shadow, but didn't dare to talk to him. He was still burning with fury. Eventually, they reached the large iron doors that led to Eggman's room. Shadow burst through them and marched toward Eggman, who stood by one of the radar systems.

"Look you," he shouted at him. "I don't know who you think you are, but-"

"Shadow, wait!" Rouge nervously cut in.

Shadow stopped on the spot. He took in a deep breath in an effort to calm himself down. It didn't work.

"What?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Before we go off on a killing spree," she began as she walked up to him. "How about we listen to what the doctor has to say? I realize that it's really early and everything, but he called us in here for something, right? So let's just hear him out first." She then whispered in Shadow's ear, "If you want to, you can get him later." Shadow agreed, and slowly let the anger vanish from him. Once gone, he asked,

"So what's so important that you couldn't wait for the sun to rise to tell us?"

"I'm glad you asked," Eggman started. "My radars have detected the location of the second Emerald." Shadow's previous anger immediately came back.

"That's it?! You made us come here just for _that_?! I'm gonna-" He attempted to charge at Eggman, but Rouge firmly planted her hand on his shoulder in order to hold him back.

"Shadow, stop!" she pleaded. However, Shadow's anger had overtaken his conscious thought causing him to loose his focus. All that concerned him was that primal instinct to break free- no matter what. Then, the next thing Shadow was consciously aware of was that Rouge had released him, but she was nowhere to be found. He looked around the room, and his eyes widened with horror at what he saw.

Rouge was lying on the ground twenty feet away. She was conscious; her hand was clutching onto her face, which had turned a deep red color. Shadow then noticed that his hand was stinging. He looked at it with an awful realization- he had hit her again. Eggman had taken the opportunity to hide behind the door closest to him. Shadow stood frozen as he looked over Rouge, guilt coursing through his body. He only once dared to look at Rouge's eyes, regretting the decision immediately.

Her eyes were tearful, and seemed to ask him, "Why?" making Shadow feel even worse. Suddenly, he bolted through the iron doors, trying to escape from his emotions. Rouge remained on the floor, staring after Shadow. Eggman sheepishly peeked through the door he was behind, and stepped out when the coast was clear.

"Well..." he said. "That was quite something. Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." she said quietly, her eyes still looking at the iron doors. Slowly, Rouge stood up, one hand attached to her face. She started to make her way to the exit when Eggman called her back.

"Wait," he said. "I suppose I should tell you where the Emerald is. Then you could tell 'cheerful' where to find it." Rouge sighed, and began to walk back toward Eggman. She would rather that than deal with Shadow at the moment.

*Ouch... Shadow, we've gotta work on your anger issues.*

Shadow ran through the endless hallways, eventually reaching the room. He burst into it and sat on his bed, burying his face in his hands. What has he done? How could he do that? Why didn't he stop himself? Why _couldn't_ he? Now, he thought, Rouge must utterly despise him. And for some reason, he couldn't deal with that idea. The anxiety grew stronger the longer that idea stayed with him. But why? Shadow thought about this, and came up with a startling theory. Could he be... attracted to-?

Rouge then entered the room, interrupting his thoughts. Her eyes were focused on the opposite wall, unwavering from it. Shadow stood up and opened his mouth to say something, but Rouge stopped him.

"Save it," she said, waving him away. He slowly sat back down, crushed. She did despise him. Rouge went to the other bed and faced Shadow with a serious look on her face. Shadow looked at her and winced with guilt. The evidence of his assault was still there- her face still retained its redness. He was unable to hold her face in his gaze, and instead looked at an insignificant spot on the wall behind her.

"Listen," she began. "Let's get one thing straight. I-" She noticed his off-centered stare. "Hey! Are you listening to me?" Rouge snapped her fingers in front of Shadow's face, bringing his focus back. "Look at me when I talk to you, got it?"

Shadow obeyed with resentment. Now he had no choice but to look straight at his guilt.

"Good," she said. "Now listen. I'm gonna make one thing clear- I don't hate you, alright, so don't think that. As for being ticked off at you, that's another story. But anyways, that wasn't my point. I've come up with an idea that will make sure that this-" she pointed to her face. "-doesn't happen anymore. We're gonna go with the three-strike system, kay? Every time you attack me like you did, it counts as a strike against you, which means you're down to two of them. One more and I'm out. By that I mean I'm dropping out of this little treasure hunt for good, and who knows whether I feel like ever meeting with you again. Understood?" Shadow nodded.

"Alright then," Rouge said, resuming her normal tone of voice. "Oh, by the way, Eggman told me to tell you where the other Emerald is. He said it was... in the capitol city, I think. And he wants us to get it now."

"And if we don't?" Shadow asked, standing up.

"He'd probably just bark and scream about how incompetent he thinks we are, and blah blah blah. And I highly doubt that either of us wants to deal with that, so let's go, shall we?"

Shadow responded by going over to the dresser and pulling out the Chaos Emerald from within it. He grabbed onto Rouge's wrist and teleported them away in a flash.

*Hmm... I think that there might be something... _interesting _going on between two certain characters... (If you couldn't tell already)*

**It's later that day, and we warp to an island scene. However, this island isn't surrounded by water- it's surrounded by air. The island, Angel Island, is kept afloat by a large green jewel located on a shrine in the middle of the island- the Master Emerald. In front of it sits a red echidna, who remains motionless, as if in a meditative state.**

Tails and Sonic, who arrived on the island by the Tornado II, approached the echidna.

"Hey, Knuckles!" Sonic called out. Knuckles snapped back to reality, and took notice of the two figures approaching him.

"Hey, guys," he said walking toward them. "I haven't-" he then looked at Sonic. "Whoa, what happened to you?" The evidence from Sonic's fight with Shadow was still there, although it was much less noticeable.

"That's part of the reason why we're here," Sonic began. "You see, we need you're help."

"We're collecting Emeralds!" Tails cut in.

"Ok, but I still don't see where I come in," Knuckles said, folding his arms.

"Listen," Sonic started. "I'll explain everything. It all started yesterday when me and Tails were working on the plane. Tails gave me the power source to put in it- a Chaos Emerald- and that's when Shadow randomly jumped through the window. He attacked both of us, smashing us through the walls." Knuckles' eyes widened. "I crashed on the ground, which is how these-" Sonic pointed to his injuries "-happened. Thankfully, I was still holding onto the Emerald at that point. I was gonna try to escape with it, but..." Sonic cut himself off, unwilling to explain what had happened next.

"Shadow got to him first," Tails finished. "He took the Emerald and warped away with Rouge; she was there too."

"Thanks, Tails," Sonic said sarcastically. "Anyways, we think that those two are up to something, and they need the Emeralds for it. So me and Tails have to find them first, which is where you come in."

"We need your help to find them," Tails said.

"And what makes you think I know where they are?" Knuckles asked.

"Well..." Tails began sheepishly. "You've always been good at finding the Emeralds before…"

"Those weren't the Emeralds! They were pieces of the _Master_ Emerald! But in any case, I'll try to help."

"Really? Thanks!"

"Mm-hm. But first we need to get off this island. The only thing my radars would be finding is that thing behind me, and I'm pretty sure that won't help."

"Alright then," Sonic said. "Let's go."

Sonic led the way back to the plane, with Tails and Knuckles following behind. They all were eager about this newest adventure, but little did they know it would no longer be just for fun.

*Gasp! Suspense!*

Meanwhile, Shadow and Rouge had been scouring the city for hours, looking for any signs of the Emerald. However, it remained firmly hidden.

"Can you feel anything yet?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah, but it's just the one we're holding. I've got an idea. Take this one and fly high above me. That way, I'll be able to sense the other one better. Then you can follow me in the sky."

Rouge agreed, and flew up with the Emerald. Shadow closed his eyes and stood completely still as he tried to feel for the Emerald. Suddenly, he sensed something to his left. Shadow skated after it, Rouge flying behind him. Eventually, Shadow stopped in front of a building that faced a large open square. Rouge flew back down to see what the trouble was.

"Well?" she asked.

"The Emerald's in there," Shadow pointed to the building with his thumb.

"Are you sure? Why would it be in there?"

"It's the mayor's office." He then laughed to himself. "I should have known. Where else would you keep something like a Chaos Emerald in a city?"

"True. But how are we supposed to get in?"

"Simple. We use the front door." Shadow opened the wooden doors and casually walked inside. Rouge just looked after him, astonished by how lightly he was handling the situation.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked.

Rouge entered the office and gently closed the doors behind her.

"Are you crazy?!" she shouted. "We can't just go waltzing into any building we feel like!"

"Calm down," Shadow said, ignoring her. "We'll be fine."

"We may be, but do you think we'll be after the mayor catches two strangers walking around his office?!"

"Would you please relax? The mayor can't do a thing."

"How would you-" Rouge then came to a realization. "Shadow, what did you do?"

"Nothing bad, I just temporarily removed him from office."

"But you can't do that!! We could-"

Shadow shot her a threatening glare.

"For the last time, calm down. You don't have to worry. The mayor's fine. Now, if you would please follow me, I'll take you to the Emerald."

Shadow turned down the left hallway, with Rouge close behind. The twosome traversed through numerous corridors; Shadow stopping every now and then to recheck the Emerald's location. Eventually, they reached a circular room that held a giant safe at the opposite end.

"This is it," Shadow said. "The signal's really strong."

Rouge was stunned by how intimidating the safe's large size was.

"How do you suppose we get it? I'm guessing you don't have the combination for this thing, do you?"

"No I don't, but I do have a Plan B. If you'll kindly toss me that Emerald, please." Rouge obeyed and handed him the Emerald.

"Stand back," he said. Rouge stepped back to the doorway.

"No, I mean _way_ back." She left the room and went to the end of the hall.

"Is this good?" she shouted. Shadow peeked through the door frame.

"Perfect," he called back. Shadow went back inside the room. There was a brief pause, and Rouge could do nothing except stand there, completely clueless.

"What is he-?"

Suddenly, the ground shook violently, knocking Rouge to the ground. There was a loud explosion that came from the room that Shadow was in. When she got to her feet, Rouge saw dust at the other end of the hallway. She ran towards it, coughing when she got to the room. Rouge peered through the dust, trying to find any signs of Shadow. Nothing. Then something was coming out of the room towards her. It was Shadow. He walked right past her, perfectly fine, with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Shadow, what happened?" she asked once she was free of the smoke.

"I got the Emerald," he said as he held up a red gem.

"I see that, but what was that explosion?"

Shadow ignored her, and began walking down the hall. Rouge ran after him, calling his name. He rolled his eyes, and turned to face her.

"What?" he asked with slight annoyance.

"I wanna know- what was that explosion?" Shadow sighed and resumed walking down the hall. Rouge caught up and walked beside him.

"If you must know," he said. "I used Chaos Blast."

"You mean, that was _you_?!"

"Mm-hm."

"Wow."

The two of them walked in silence the rest of the way out. Shadow passed through the doors first, then froze in his tracks with an angry glare on his face. Rouge noticed this, and gave him a confused look.

"What is it?" He didn't respond. Rouge followed his line of sight, and discovered what he was staring at. Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails had followed them in their search for the Emerald, and were now standing in front of them, ready to fight.

*End!! And just when things were getting good! I guess that gives you an excuse to come back next time for Part 4. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it! Just a reminder- please review on this, and I guess I'll see you guys next time. Bye!*


	4. Very Possible

Finally! Part 4 is here! Sorry this took so long to publish, but I found this part extremely hard to write, and so I procrastinated for weeks on finishing it. But, at long last, it is finished. Yay! So, please review, and enjoy the next installment of this little saga!

"Well, if it isn't the heroes," Shadow said mockingly, his face matching his tone of voice.

"Hand over those Emeralds!" Knuckles shouted at him.

"And what makes you think I'm just gonna willingly hand them over to you?"

"Who said you were going to willingly?" Sonic asked darkly. Shadow just laughed at him.

"Isn't this a switch? Usually it's me who gives out the treats. Don't tell me we've strayed from the straight and narrow path? That would be bad for your little reputation, now wouldn't it?"

Sonic responded by charging at Shadow, his facial expression changing to reflect his pure hatred. However, Shadow simply warped away using the Emeralds. Sonic skidded to a halt, looking around for any signs of his nemesis.

"Where are you?!" he shouted to the sky. Nothing but silence greeted him. "Shadow, if you don't come out here, I'm gonna-"

Suddenly, Shadow reappeared directly behind Sonic. Before he could react, Shadow landed a kick to his backside, sending him flying at Knuckles and Tails. They each jumped to one side in an attempt to avoid getting hit. Sonic quickly got to his feet, staring Shadow down, but he just laughed in Sonic's face once again.

"You know," Shadow started, smirking. "I honestly expected more of a challenge out of that. But it looks like I've been shown otherwise."

"If you want a challenge, then I'll be glad to give you one!" Sonic ran at Shadow, but had disappeared again. This time, he reappeared above Sonic, aiming another kick at him. Sonic noticed, however, and managed to back-flip away before getting hit.

"You wanna try fighting fair next time?!" Sonic shouted.

"As much as I'd love to," Shadow said coolly. "I never was one for fighting fair."

"Yeah, because you can't."

Shadow's mood instantly shifted. He dropped the Emeralds on the ground next to him, clenching his hands into fists as anger began to smolder inside him.

"Excuse me?" he asked threateningly.

"You heard me," Sonic began naively. "You don't fight fair because you can't. Cheating like that is the only way you can beat me because you're so-"

Sonic cut himself off when he looked at Shadow; his attitude changing from a sense of superiority to fear. Shadow's crimson eyes seemed to be on fire, fueled by the fury Sonic's words had created. No sooner than when Sonic noticed this, Shadow jumped out at him with lightning-fast speed; faster than what Sonic could have reacted to. In an instant, Shadow pinned Sonic on the ground, with one hand gripped firmly on his throat. Slowly, Shadow was choking the life out of him, and the others merely looked on, feeling as helpless as Sonic was to change the situation.

"Because I'm what?" Shadow started, his flaming eyes burning into Sonic's. "Weak? Is that what you were going to say? Well look who's talking. If that's the case, then how come you can't free yourself, hm?"

Sonic tried to release himself by throwing a punch at Shadow, but Shadow easily spotted it and blocked it with his free hand. He then tightened his hold on Sonic's neck, laughing at his failed effort.

"The answer's easy," Shadow continued, smiling villainously. "I'm simply stronger than you are. It's always been that way, and you've known it, too, but that's something you couldn't afford to have the rest of the world know. I mean, what would happen if the world knew you weren't the strongest? Surely they couldn't depend on you to save them. So then, where would your life be? Simple- you wouldn't have one.

"They all would have turned on you, because if you couldn't be depended on to save them, they would have viewed you as a threat, and therefore something to be destroyed. You've known that as well, which is why you've spent all of these years putting on this pathetic masquerade of being the hero, hoping you could escape that fate. And the world has fallen prey to this little act of yours, but it has been a futile one, because in a few moments, you won't be able to continue this game of yours, for I will fulfill that fate you've tried so hard to evade."

*Oh noses!! Shadow's got murderous intent! : o What'll we do?!*

No one else spoke another word. Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge looked on with horror at the scene that was unfolding before them. Each of them desperately wanted to stop it, but the fear of what would happen to them overrode their ability to prevent Sonic's death. Rouge, however, was the first one to fight against this fear. She had her own reasons to take charge, and they mattered more than whatever fear she may have had. Rouge cautiously began to approach Shadow from behind, much to Tails' and Knuckles' surprise.

"What are you doing?!" Tails asked in a hushed yet frantic tone.

"What you're not," she responded just as quietly.

Rouge continued to walk towards Shadow, and nervously placed a firm, yet gentile hand on his shoulder once she reached him.

"Shadow, don't do this."

At first, Shadow was completely unaware of Rouge's presence; rage had blocked the rest of the world from his mind. However, a strange, yet familiar sensation began to penetrate. It slowly quelled the fury within him, despite involuntary attempts to fight it off. The feeling swiftly spread through Shadow's body, and forced him to release his hold on Sonic. Rouge then let go of Shadow, feeling relieved.

Shadow began to stand up, slightly dazed by what he just experienced. He walked over to where the Emeralds laid, picked them up, and motioned for Rouge to join him. She nodded, and moved next to him. Shadow then grabbed her wrist, and instantly disappeared in a flash.

*There are two things that I could say here, depending on whether you like Sonic or not. If you do, then, "Phew! That was too close! Good job, Rouge!" If not, then, "Arg! So close! Why'd you go and do that, Rouge?! Curse you!" Take your pick.*

Tails and Knuckles rushed to Sonic's side as soon as Shadow and Rouge left. They tried to help him up, but he angrily shook them off.

"What?" Tails asked, confused by Sonic's coldness.

"Oh nothing," Sonic said sarcastically, standing up. "You two are just something else, that's all."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that _now _you guys decide to help me, rather than a few minutes ago when I really needed it. Do you _want _me dead or something?"

"Of course not, but-"

"I wasn't finished. If you couldn't bother to save me, the least you could've done was grab the Emeralds. Then we could've had some sort of advantage over those two. But _no_! You guys just stand there like statues, and let them get away!"

"But Sonic-"

"What Tails, _what_?!" Sonic snapped, practically in Tails' face. Tails gave Sonic a terrified look, and then stared at his shoes, whimpering.

"Nothing," he said quietly, and then began to cry to himself. Sonic immediately softened; guilt coursing through him. That was the second time he had scared Tails.

"Look, Tails…" Sonic began, but Knuckles cut him off.

"Quiet," he said sternly. "I think you've said enough." He then placed an arm around Tails' shoulders, trying to comfort him. Tails' crying subsequently became louder, making Sonic feel even worse.

"You know," Knuckles said. "You sounded just like Shadow for a minute there."

Sonic became extremely offended. How could Knuckles say that? He knew that he and Shadow were complete opposites. And what's worse, Shadow was the evil one. So how could Knuckles go so far as to… compare them?

"Take that back!" Sonic shouted. Before Knuckles could respond, a shrill voice rang through the air, growing louder as it neared them.

"_Sooooooooonnnnnniiiiiiiiccc!!!!_"

"Oh no…" Sonic said nervously.

A pink hedgehog wearing a bright pink dress came running at the threesome with open arms and a huge smile on her face. Sonic tried to make a run for it, but was too late. The hedgehog had wrapped her arms around him and refused to let go. He tried desperately to escape from the embrace, failing miserably, however. All the while, Tails and Knuckles were laughing uncontrollably, much to Sonic's disapproval.

"Stop it, guys!" Sonic said. "It's not funny!"

"Actually," Tails began, laughing hard. "From where we're standing, it's pretty hilarious!"

Giving up on them, Sonic focused his attention on the girl, who was still latched onto him.

"Amy, let go of me!"

"But Sonic, it's been too long!"

"It's only been a week, Amy."

"A long, lonely week! I've missed you!"

"Well… um…" Sonic stammered, unsure of how to respond.

"Didn't you miss me?"

"Listen Amy," he started, changing the subject. "Please tell me there was a reason behind you chasing me again."

"That didn't answer my question," Amy said, frowning at him. "Didn't you miss me?"

"Well, I…"

"Didn't you?"

"I, uh… maybe… a little…" he lied. Luckily, Amy believed him.

"I knew it!" she said, hugging him tighter.

"Now Amy, there _was_ a reason you were following me, right?"

"Oh right! I almost forgot!" Amy finally released her hold on Sonic. "I heard from my friend who heard from her friend who heard from _her_ friend that you guys were looking for those Emeralds again, and I wanna help."

"Thanks Amy, but we don't really need it."

"Oh, so that means you've already found a lot of them?"

"Well, no, but-"

"So you don't want me around, huh? Then I guess you don't want this, either." Amy reached behind her and pulled out a sparkling white gem- a Chaos Emerald. Everyone looked at her in disbelief.

"Amy!" Sonic said, shocked. "Where'd you get that?!"

"I found it while following you guys. So, you really want it then, hm?" Amy dangled the Emerald in front of her, smirking. Sonic reached out to grab it, but Amy snatched it back.

"Not so fast. I'll only give this to you under two conditions."

"C'mon, Amy…"

"No, you c'mon, Sonic! Now listen. The first thing you gotta do is let me join you."

"Ok, and what else?"

"And Sonic, you've gotta kiss me!"

"What?! No way!!"

"Fine, then no Emerald."

Sonic hesitated for a moment, then finally gave in. For the world's safety, sacrifices must be made.

"Fine…" he sighed. "Stay there…" Nervously, he leaned in towards Amy, but she jumped at the opportunity. She ran at Sonic, and forced their lips to meet. Sonic stood there with wide eyes as thousands of waves of shock, surprise, confusion, and similar emotions ran through him. Tails and Knuckles watched with eyes as wide as Sonic's, and with just as much confusion as the event continued on. Eventually, Sonic regained enough control to push Amy away from him.

"What the heck was that?!" he shouted

"What do you mean?" Amy asked innocently.

"I mean, what were you thinking?!"

"I was _thinking _that I couldn't really trust you to handle that."

"What?!"

"Think about it. If I had let you do it, all I would've gotten was a little kiss on the cheek, and that wasn't gonna work for me. I did you a favor by doing that; I got what I wanted, and you got what you wanted." She tossed Sonic the Chaos Emerald. "You're welcome."

Sonic looked at the Emerald in his hand, and smiled with satisfaction. It was well worth it. However, that feeling left when he began to realize something.

"That was your plan all along, wasn't it?" he said, anger slightly noticeable on his face.

"If you mean ever since I found that Emerald, then yeah," Amy said, still acting innocent.

"Amy, you used me!" Sonic was growing angrier.

"No, I just took advantage of an opportunity. The Emerald was my chance to get what I always wanted, and I wasn't about to pass it up."

Sonic then closed his eyes, thinking deeply. After a time, he reopened them and let out a sigh.

"Amy," he said quietly but angrily. "I don't want you with us."

"Is that so?" she said, obviously hurt. "Then I'll just take that back then." She grabbed onto the Emerald in Sonic's hand and tried to take it back, but Sonic refused to let go.

"Sonic, give it back!"

"Why should I?"

"We made a deal!"

"Since when?!"

"Since you committed to do half of the deal! You can't just go back on it! And since you're apparently failing to hold up your end, I don't have to hold up mine! Now give this back or be called a liar for not keeping your promise!"

That had done it. Sonic's anger became full-fledged rage.

"Don't you EVER call me that!!"

"Why not?! It's true!"

"No it's not!!"

"Is to, liar!!"

"Stop it, Amy!"

"Why should I, _liar_?!"

"Just STOP IT!!!"

Suddenly, all was quiet. Sonic saw that Amy was no longer standing in front of him; rather, she was lying on the ground a few feet in front of him. At first, he couldn't understand why, but when he looked upon her face, the awful truth became clear.

One of her cheeks had become a brilliant red color, and the hand that held it was turning the same. Amy felt something on that hand, and when she looked at it, her eyes widened with shock. It was tainted with blood. Her eyes then laid on Sonic, not wanting to believe he was responsible. However, the evidence rested in Sonic's hand.

The Emerald's tip, she had noticed, was the same color as her hand. It was obvious, then, that he had attacked her with it, voluntarily or not. Amy continued to gaze upon the Emerald, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Sonic noticed Amy's stare and followed it with his own eyes, only to regret it instantly. He looked at the Emerald in his hand, and cringed at the blood-stained tip. It was all his fault. He had hurt yet another person he cared about and not just emotionally but in a way that would leave a permanent reminder of what he had done. The guilt he was feeling was the worst that he had ever dealt with, and it only continued to get worse. Soon enough, the pain became so great that Sonic did the only thing that he felt he was able to do: run.

He sped past Amy, and quickly left the city behind him. He had no idea where he was going, but it didn't matter. He just had to get away. Maybe then he could find a way to resolve the current issue that was tearing him apart.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Everyone stared in the direction Sonic had ran, shocked by what had just happened. Tails and Knuckles went to Amy's side and helped her get to her feet. She gratefully accepted their help, although her eyes never shifted from where they were looking.

"How could he do that?" she asked, still keeping her gaze in the same direction.

"I don't know," Knuckles said. "Something's gotten into him."

"Or someone," Tails said.

"What?"

"Shadow."

Amy whipped around, looking Tails in the eye.

"Shadow? What does he have to do with this?"

"You must not have seen," Knuckles began. "Before you came, Shadow and Rouge showed up here with two of the Emeralds; they're after them, too."

"And before that, me and Sonic ran into them, and they took the Emerald I had." Tails cut in.

"So," Knuckles continued. "Maybe a little of Shadow is rubbing off on him, I don't know. But, I'm sure it's nothing too serious. What we should be focusing on right now is getting that cut of yours fixed. C'mon, there should be a hospital somewhere…"

Knuckles took off toward the city, with Tails and Amy following behind. Despite what Knuckles had said, they all knew well enough that this was very serious, and each of them was starting to fear what Sonic was becoming.

*Wow… That was _bad_… : o But don't stop now! You're getting close! Please continue on!!*

Shadow and Rouge instantly reappeared inside the all-too-familiar confines of their room in Eggman's base. Shadow irately threw Rouge's hand to her side, and began to make his way toward the door. Rouge immediately sensed something was wrong.

"What?" she asked, slightly offensive. Shadow ignored her, slamming the metal door behind him. Rouge stood there for a brief moment, bewildered, then proceeded to follow him into the hallway.

"Shadow," she kept calling to him. "Shadow, wait!" However, Shadow made it seem that he was oblivious to Rouge's presence. He continued to march down the cold corridors, taking every twist and turn available, as if trying to shake her off.

"Shadow!" Rouge persisted, managing to keep up with him. Shadow suddenly turned to face her after a time, catching her off guard. Rouge stumbled to a stop, narrowly avoiding running into him.

"What do you want?!" he snarled at her.

Rouge paused a moment before responding, slightly put off by Shadow's tone of voice.

"Answers, mainly," she said. Shadow closed his eyes, let out a sigh, and continued to walk down the hall. Rouge sighed as well, and began to chase Shadow again.

"Why won't you talk to me? Is it something I did?"

Shadow instantly stopped, his anger vanquished. Strangely, that question bothered him. He didn't want her to think that it was her fault. Especially when it was the exact opposite. Shadow turned around to face her again.

"No, you didn't do anything. It's just…" He was unsure of how to finish that sentence, or even if he wanted to.

"Just what?" Rouge prompted.

"Never mind," Shadow said quickly. "So… what did you want to know?" Rouge smiled a bit, glad she was getting somewhere.

"Lots of things, really," she began. "But mainly, why do you find it so hard to talk to me? Do I bother you that much?"

Shadow grimaced. She still felt that she was responsible for all this, and that fact was hurting him.

_But why? _he thought. _Why?! _As he searched his mind for any sort of explanation, the image of him sitting in the hallway reemerged. Then, that startling theory he had come up with the night before appeared.

_That must be it! _Shadow reasoned. _It explains everything! _

"Shadow?" Rouge asked, noticing how Shadow hadn't made any response. Shadow continued to ignore her.

_But… is that even possible? _he wondered. He thought about the idea for a moment, and a warm wave of emotion surged through him. Then, a smile slowly crept onto his face. _Yes, very possible._

"What is it?" Rouge asked. Shadow looked at her, her face filled with confusion.

Shadow took in a deep breath, and slowly began to walk towards her, until there were only a few inches of space between them.

"Listen," he started. "I need to tell you something. I think it will explain everything I've done to you these past two days. This may sound completely irrational, and you may think I'm crazy, but… I can't deny it any longer."

"What?" Rouge questioned softly. Shadow closed his eyes and said,

"Rouge, I think I-"

"There you are!" another voice called to them. Rouge and Shadow looked down the hall to see Eggman coming towards them.

"I've been paging your room for half an hour now! Since you didn't come, I thought I'd look for you, and here you are."

"What do you want?!" Shadow snapped.

"I need you two to come back to my office. I've found something interesting."

*Mwa ha ha!!! You think that I'm gonna spoil things this early in the game? I think not!!

: P But don't freak out, 'cause it ain't over yet!*

About thirty minutes later, Shadow, Eggman , and Rouge had reached the circular room. The doctor led the way to one of the tracker systems, which had a bright white light in the shape of a large gemstone on the screen.

"You see," Eggman began. "My radar has picked up the location of an Emerald."

"So? What's the problem?" Rouge asked, her voice slightly edgy; she hadn't forgiven him for his interruption. However, Eggman was oblivious to her tone.

"The problem is… it's moving."

"Moving?!"

"Yes, and at an incredible velocity. I don't understand it."

Everyone stared at the screen, watching the Emerald race across it, unable to come up with a solution.

"Wait a sec," Rouge said, deep in thought. "I have an idea. Doctor, can this thing track heat signatures?" Eggman was taken by surprise.

"I think so, but I don't see how-"

"Oh, just let me see!" Rouge pushed Eggman aside, and began to press numerous buttons on the keyboard below the screen. Eventually, a red-orange flashing dot was moving with the Emerald, and just as fast.

"How did you do that?" Eggman asked, shocked.

"Years of practice," she said with a satisfied smirk on her face.

"So, someone's moving the Emerald?" Shadow asked.

"Mm-hm."

Everyone was silent, pondering about this new information until,

"Sonic," Shadow growled. Eggman looked at him, confused.

"Sonic? What do you mean?"

"He _means_," Rouge cut in, sighing. "that Sonic's the only one who could be going that fast."

"Exactly," Shadow said.

"So," Eggman mused. "Sonic has the Emerald…"

"Yes, which means that he's after them too." Shadow said, a villainous smile spreading on his face.

"What is it?" Rouge asked, seeing his smile.

"Oh, nothing, it's just that this little game of ours has gotten to be _much _."

*Fini!! I don't know about you, but that was intense!! I mean, Sonic almost dies, he totally hurt Amy, Shadow realizes his feelings, it's a lot of stuff to take in! And I'm not gonna lie to you, Part 5 may take as long to write as this one did, but I will get it on here as soon as I'm done with it. So, thanks for sticking with me even through this obnoxious wait, and see you next time!*


	5. Goodbye

**WARNING!:** Alright, I've taken a step back to look at this Part, and I need to set some things straight. If any of you have made it this far into this crappy story (and I know it is), you may have noticed that I've done a real number on the characters' personalities. I realize that now, and I wanna apologize for it. I honestly didn't know that was happening at the time, and it's too late to change it now. You see (and I know this is gonna sound lame; sorry), when I was writing this last year, I was sorta hating on Sonic. So, I wanted to make him suffer as much as possible in my story in order to exact some sort of demented revenge. (I know, I know...) And I did so, even at the expense of his personality. Why do I mention this now? Because this is one of the worst spots for it. Well, if you wanna read it, I can't stop you, but if not, feel free to skip all the way to the end where I will post a summery of what happened. I'm serious though; you really don't wanna read this. You'll wanna puke (I do). Oh, and if you do read it, please do NOT review on it, cuz there's nothing good you can say about it, honestly. Thanks for your time.

**It's a different time than when we left off in Part 4, about forty minutes after the whole Sonic and Amy dealio, just so you know.**

He hadn't known how long he had been running. His entire body ached and begged him to stop, but he refused it any salvation. He couldn't if he wanted to. It was as if he was being controlled by an unknown puppeteer, and only it knew when this was going to end. And, that same being seemed to begin to manipulate his mind as well, because that same painful, unwanted image kept replaying itself, continually breaking his already shattered heart.

**Flashback (character's POV)**

"_Just STOP IT!!!"_

_Suddenly, it was quiet. I saw that Amy wasn't standing in front of me; instead, she was lying on the ground a few feet from me. At first, I couldn't get why, but when I looked at her face, that's when I found out._

_One of her cheeks became a bright red color, and the hand that held it was turning the same. Amy looked at the hand she held her cheek with, and her eyes widened, shocked. It was covered in blood. Then she looked at me, denial on her face. _

_Amy was staring at the Emerald, which at first I had no idea why. Finally, I built up the courage to follow her gaze with my own eyes. I'll always wish I hadn't. The Emerald's tip was covered with blood, too. Then I realized; it was all my fault. _Mine._ I had hurt yet another person I cared about, and not just emotionally. This time, you couldn't just forget about it; it would always be there, and eternal reminder of what I did. _

_Those thoughts ran through my head until I couldn't handle it anymore. I had to get away from them. That's when I ran. Within seconds everything I knew there was left far behind, but it still wasn't far enough. And so, I'm still running, trying to escape…_

**End of flashback**

At sunset, he encountered an abandoned shoreline, with the deep blue ocean stretching beyond it.

_I guess this is it, _he thought. He was finally allowed to break out of his run, and then walked towards the water's edge. He knelt down, and placed the tip of the white Chaos Emerald he was carrying into the water. The blood slowly left the gem and formed a small red trail, which he watched in agony. Soon, he was unable to watch it any longer. He closed his eyes, and took in deep breaths to try to keep his emotions steady. Once he was calm enough, he checked the Emerald. It was clean. He stood up, and looked out over the vastness before him.

_Now where do I go?_ he asked himself. He couldn't go back; what he did was unforgivable. But soon, he wouldn't have a choice.

*Well, that was sad!! **takes moment to sigh deeply** But! There's more suspenseful suspense! : D Let's find out what the cruel author means!*

**A minute or so earlier…**

A trio of characters was carefully crossing the shoreline, making sure not to alert the person who held their target.

"There it is!" the young, energetic bee said, flying faster ahead of the other two.

"Quiet, Charmy! Do you wantus to fail the mission?!" the large green crocodile asked him. He was trying to grab onto Charmy, with no success.

"Ha ha, Vector!" Charmy taunted. "You can't catch me!"

"Charmy, if you don't come down here-"

"Quiet, you two!" the third party, the pink chameleon, interjected. "We _do _have a mission."

"Espio's right," Vector said. "We've gotta focus. At least the guy over there hasn't noticed us yet."

On the contrary, he had noticed. He looked over to his right, and spotted the threesome coming toward him. He then started to run in the opposite direction into the nearby foliage, cursing in his head.

"Hey, wait! We just need to…" They had gotten so far behind, their voices had trailed off. He gazed behind him, and smirked when he didn't see them. But before he could look forward again, he crashed into something, sending him flying back a foot or two on the ground.

"Ow!" another voice said. She looked up at who ran into her, and merely stared, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Sonic?!" she managed to say. Sonic looked up at the sound of his name, just as shocked as the other one was at what he saw.

"Amy?!" he exclaimed.

The two of them continued to sit on the ground, staring at each other for the longest time, unable to believe what they were seeing. Tails and Knuckles soon came running up behind Amy, and were just as shocked to see Sonic in front of them.

"Sonic!" Tails cried excitedly. He rushed over to Sonic's side to help him up; Knuckles in turn helped Amy. Sonic and Amy paid them no mind, though; the only thing that registered to them was that the other was right there, despite all odds, in front of them.

"Sonic…" Amy started to say, still doubtful of the truth of the situation. However, her usual personality started to reemerge once she accepted its accuracy. "Sonic!!" she said more enthusiastically, running at him with open arms. Sonic held up a hand, halting her.

"Stop, Amy," he said. She reluctantly obeyed, her face falling. Sonic briefly closed his eyes, then reopened them, refocusing on Amy's cheek. It was covered in a bandage, he noticed, but he could still see through it, see what he had done, as he always would… Then, Sonic's breathing became shaky.

"Sonic?" Amy said concerned. She tried to move toward him again, but she was stopped once more.

"Please, stop," he told her. He closed his eyes and turned away from her. "…I'm fine."

"I know you better than that. Now tell me what's wrong." She put a hand on Sonic's shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

"Please, Amy, don't."

"Why?"

"Because!" he in an unintentional louder tone. Sonic immediately caught the harshness in his voice, and took a minute to collect himself before saying, "I might… do _that_ again." He pointed to her cheek.

"Sonic, you can't-" Amy started to say, but Sonic continued to talk as if she hadn't said a word.

"I… can't trust myself, Amy. Not after this. Who knows who I'll hurt next; Knuckles? Tails?" He turned towards the three of them, facing them with a look of despair. "How would I live with myself? I can hardly do it now. So… I've decided. This is gonna be hard on all of us, especially me, but, it'll be the best for you."

"Sonic, what do you mean?" Amy asked, her eyes tearful.

"I mean that," Sonic started. "Tails, Knuckles, Amy-" they each moved to stand in front of him. "-I'm… saying goodbye."

* **Those of you readers that like Sonic** OH NO!!!! What does Mickey think she's doing?! Is she insane?! *Me* Yes, yes I am. But hold on! I'll straighten things out! …Eventually…*

"Goodbye?!" Tails asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, Tails, goodbye." Sonic said, becoming tearful as well. "Like I said, it'll be the best for you guys in the end."

"But Sonic! We can work this out!" Amy said.

"Maybe we can in time, Amy, but for now, we need to go separate ways. That way, I can't hurt you anymore."

"Sonic, you're hurting us now!"

Sonic ignored her, barely able to keep his emotions in check. He then turned toward each of them in turn and said,

"Knuckles, take the Emerald, and promise me you'll watch the others for me, alright?" Knuckles simply nodded, unable to speak, and accepted the Emerald from Sonic.

"Tails," Sonic continued. "I want you to listen to Knuckles and to keep an eye out for those Emeralds, kay?" Tails also nodded, then looked at the ground, crying.

"And Amy, stay with Tails and Knuckles. They'll keep you safe, and that's the main thing I'm worried about. Will you promise me?"

"Yes, but… Sonic, won't you please stay?"

"If it were even the slightest bit possible I would, but as it is…"

Amy closed her eyes, defeated. "You can't." she whispered.

"No. But, don't think I'm gonna leave without something to remember me by."

Amy's eyes reopened swiftly. "What do you mean?" she asked curiously. Tails and Knuckles looked over at where Sonic and Amy stood, also wondering what Sonic meant. Sonic didn't say another word, and instead was leaning toward Amy; much like he had earlier that day, except with less nervousness, and more apology. Amy soon caught on to what was happening, and began to lean back towards him, eager to receive this goodbye. Within seconds, the only thing that remained between them was mere inches of space, when,

"Oo-oo-ooh!" Someone else had said in a sing-song voice. "Sonic and Amy sittin' in a tree! K-i- Mmph!" He was cut off by a hand that was pushed over his mouth by another person, who had caught up with him.

"Charmy!" the other said. "You've _gotta _stop flying off like that! I mean, who knows what-" he stopped when he noticed the four in front of him.

"Uh…" he looked at Sonic and Amy. "Sorry if we… interrupted anything…" Charmy began to laugh at Vector's discomfort, which resulted in his mouth being pressed on harder. Amy then looked around Sonic, surprised at who she saw.

"Vector? Charmy? Espio? What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, what do you want?" Sonic asked them after turning to face them.

"We're on a-" Charmy started, but Espio threw him a silencing glare.

"Quiet, Charmy. You're not to talk of it."

"Talk about what?" Amy asked.

"Never mind," Vector said. "So…" He glanced at Espio, who nodded, answering his unspoken question. "Well then, guys," he told the foursome. "I guess we'll do this the easy way. We need that Emerald."

"What?!" they said in unison.

"You heard him," Espio said. "That Emerald is of great importance to us, so we'd appreciate it if you would hand it over quietly."

"Oh really," Sonic began. "Well that's just too bad, 'cause we need the Emeralds, and probably for more important reasons than you do."

"Sonic!" Tails whispered.

"It's all right, Tails. They can't do anything."

"Is that what you think?" Vector asked, offended.

"Exactly."

"Then prove it!"

"Fine, then." Sonic grabbed the Emerald out of Knuckles' hands, and began to speed by Vector, thinking he could get away. However, no one expected what happened next.

Vector reached out towards Sonic as he ran by him, and managed to garb onto his arm. Then, he latched onto a nearby tree for support, which caused Sonic to slow down just enough for Vector to throw him back a few feet. Afterward, Charmy flew down and snatched the Emerald out of Sonic's hand. Sonic didn't try to resist; he was too shocked by what just happened, as was everyone else. No one had ever been able to do that before.

"Well, I guess that takes care of that," Vector said. "Let's go guys. We've got more Emeralds to find." They turned to leave, but were stopped by another voice.

"Not so fast," the voice said coolly. "We also need that Emerald, and it'll be a lot less painful for you if you hand it over right now."

"Who are you?! Show yourself!" Vector called out. Two figures stepped out of the foliage, revealing themselves to be none other than Shadow and Rouge.

*Yay! They're back!! And the Chaotix guys are here too!! They're SO much fun! Hee hee! : D*

Shadow looked around, surprised to see so many people in front of him. "Well, this is quite the group we've got here. I honestly didn't think that you would need _this_ much help.-" he looked at Sonic. "-But considering what happened this afternoon, it doesn't surprise me." Sonic gave Shadow a threatening glare, to which Shadow just laughed at.

"We're not helping them," Vector said. Shadow's eyes snapped towards the direction the voice came from.

"You three… I've seen you from somewhere, haven't I?" He started to walk to them, studying them deeply, trying to remember. "Ah yes, I remember now. Each of you wanted me to help you with some feeble task a long time ago. And I did, didn't I?" Shadow waited for a response, but none came.

"Yes, you know I did. So, I feel it's time to give back. You, little one." Charmy looked up, scared. "If you'll be so kind as to hand over the Emerald." Charmy hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head defiantly.

"Well, isn't that a shame. I guess I'll just have to take it by force."

"Leave him alone!" Sonic shouted to him. Shadow turned toward him, rolling his eyes.

"Must you always be the hero?"

"Must you always be the villain?"

"Only when I have to be, which doesn't happen to be the case this time."

"Shadow, what are you doing?" Rouge asked, unnerved by Shadow's overall attitude.

"Nothing," he reassured her. _Yet_. "Now," Shadow addressed to the others. "I'm feeling nice today, so I'll give you one more chance to hand me the Emerald without any problems."

"You honestly think that we're gonna believe _you_?! No way!!" Sonic shouted. Shadow then smiled slyly.

"Very well. You asked for it. Rouge, the Emerald, please." She passed him the red Emerald that she had. It started to emanate a faint glow as Shadow started to absorb its power.

"If that's the way you wanna play, fine. Charmy, hand me that Emerald," Sonic said. Charmy gave him an indecisive look.

"But…"

"Now!"

"Do it, Charmy!" Vector told him. Charmy threw Sonic the Emerald without further hesitation. As soon as he grabbed it, it began to glow in his hand as well. Sonic and Shadow walked toward each other, staring the other down, stopping with a foot of space between them. The others crowded around the two of them, curious as well as nervous about what was going to unfold.

"I can't believe you," Shadow said in such a low tone only Sonic could hear. "After the two humiliating defeats I gave you, I thought that you surely would've given up."

"Never. Especially not when my friends are on the line," Sonic responded darkly.

"Really? I never would've guessed that after what happened to you girlfriend over there."

Sonic's eyes widened in shock for a moment, then reverted back to their furious look.

"What I've done is absolutely none of your business!!"

"So, you admit it…" Shadow mused, chuckling to himself. "I hope for your sake no one saw that. Your reputation would be shot."

At that point, Sonic could no longer control his emotions. The rage he felt had escalated so much that it took over his entire mind, letting him think only one thought, one that resonated throughout him- remove the person he believed stood between him and his peace. With this, he lashed out at Shadow with such speed that it caught him off guard. In an instant, Shadow had been knocked back a few feet, and a long, thin red line began to appear on his right arm.

"Shadow!" Rouge gasped, upset.

"Don't worry about it," Shadow reassured her, getting to his feet. "Actually, it's about time he stood up for himself. But-" he said to Sonic "-that was very poorly executed. Allow me to show you how to properly use that Emerald." Shadow's Emerald began to glow brighter as he siphoned more of its energy. Soon, his entire body emanated a faint red aura.

"Don't you dare," Sonic threatened through gritted teeth. He began to absorb more of his Emerald's energy, and his body began to glow slightly blue. "Everyone, stand close to me." All but Rouge obeyed; she remained on Shadow's side.

"Any last words?" Shadow asked him.

"Just two," Sonic responded. "Chaos…" Shadow smiled villainously at where this was going.

"Chaos…" he began to say. Everyone else braced themselves as best as they could; they knew almost certainly where this was headed. Then, Shadow and Sonic respectively unleashed the world that activated their powers.

"-BLAST!!"

"-CONTROL!!"

All within a second, a red explosion occurred, and a blue light flashed. Then, all was quiet. Shadow was kneeling on the ground, completely exhausted from what he had done. He took in a few deep breaths, then stood up and observed the aftermath.

Everything within a twenty foot radius of him was entirely destroyed. Trees, shrubs, all were obliterated. But what struck him the most was the fact that there was no one to be found.

"I should've known," he said, shaking his head. "He used Chaos Control to escape. Looks like he took everyone else with him as well."

Not everyone. Shadow turned to leave, when he saw one of the worst scenes he ever had witnessed.

Rouge was lying on the ground, face down, unmoving. Shadow rushed to her side, knelt down, and shook her vigorously.

"Rouge!" he kept calling to her. Nothing. He continued to shake her and call her name, growing more desperate as each moment passed. Nothing. Eventually, he gave up, defeated. He bowed his head and closed his eyes, feeling the absolute worst he ever had, even more than he had those many years ago, back at the space colony, because this time, it was his fault. He could have prevented this, had he not been so… so _selfish_. That accursed Emerald had blinded him from- His thoughts were interrupted by some movement.

Rouge began to stir. Shadow looked down at her, and felt a great wave of relief and sheer joy surge through him at what he saw. She was alive. He couldn't help the smile that had appeared on his face.

"Rouge, I'm-" he started. However, Rouge cut him off by slapping him across the face with tremendous force. He said nothing; he knew he deserved it.

"Strike three," she said coldly.

"What?!"

"You heard me. Don't tell me you've forgotten."

Shadow looked at her, confused for a moment, then his face changed to show misery as he recalled that conversation.

**Flashback**

"'…_I've come up with an idea that will make sure that this-' Rouge pointed to her face. '-doesn't happen anymore. We're gonna go with the three-strike system, kay? Every time you attack me like you did, it counts as a strike against you, which means you're down to two of them. One more and I'm out. By that I mean I'm dropping out of this little treasure hunt for good, and who knows whether I feel like ever meeting with you again…"_

**End of flashback**

"Please don't mean…" Shadow began.

"Yes, Shadow," Rouge said as she unsteadily stood up. "I'm done. For my own safety, I can't do this anymore; I'm… not sure if I can trust you." Rouge's words cut his heart into pieces, but he wasn't going to let that show. Shadow adopted an envelope of anger to hide his feelings, lasting only as long as this one moment would.

"If that's how you feel, then just go," he snarled, folding his arms and refusing to look at her. Rouge was deeply hurt, but like Shadow, she kept her true emotions to herself.

"Like I wasn't going already!" she snapped through her angry façade. Rouge marched towards the foliage opposite of Shadow. At the clearing's edge, she paused for a moment, and let her falsified anger disappear so she could say,

"Goodbye, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Shadow, however, continued to keep his anger with him, and coldly responded,

"Good riddance, Rouge the Bat."

With that sentence, Rouge flew off into the forest, fighting back the tears that refused to cease. Once he was sure she was gone, Shadow released his anger and allowed his true emotions of guilt, loss, and misery fill his body. Slowly, he turned to face the spot where Rouge had stood just seconds ago. He looked at it in agony, and took a few heavy steps in its direction. Soon, his feelings overcame him, and he fell to his knees, not bothering to stop the millions of agonizing emotional daggers from stabbing what was left of his heart.

*For those who chose to skip (and I personally commend you), here's a recap of what happened: Team Chaotix came after Sonic to get the Emerald he had, Sonic re-met with Amy, Tails, and Knuckles, Sonic feels that he can't stay with them cuz of what happened in Part 4, Chaotix meet up with the other five and try to take the Emerald away by force, Shadow and Rouge then run into all of them and try to get the Emerald as well, after refusing Sonic and Shadow use Chaos Control and Blast respectively, everyone aside from Shadow and Rouge escape the explosion, Rouge gets mad at Shadow for hurting her yet again, she leaves him and Shadow is all depressed. That's it.*


	6. Apology

**WARNING!:** Yep, that's right guys, I'm stopping you again, and for a good reason. As I explained in the beginning of Chapter 5, I killed the characters' personalities, and this is the absolute worst part here, absolutely no lies. I'm telling you, the first half of this is just a bunch of puke, and to spare you from that again, if you scroll down to the spot where I've written: **STOP!!** that's where you can continue to read, which isn't so bad, to be honest. Thanks for your time again.

Darkness enveloped them. They fell through it for what seemed like forever, when the ground suddenly reappeared to them. A dampened thud sounded when they hit it, followed by a few exclamations of pain. Compared to what they could have experienced, they gratefully welcomed this. They had narrowly escaped certain doom at the expense of their savior, who lay motionless on the ground, clutching the white gem that helped spare them,

One of them, Amy, had gotten up first, and took a quick look at her surroundings. She was at a beach; there was sand beneath her feet and a vast black ocean stretching beyond. Opposite of it was an ongoing forest, possibly the one she had been in. The sun had set; the only light provided was that of the crescent moon above and hundreds of diamond-like stars in the sky. However, it was enough to allow her to see the six others surrounding her, most of who were beginning to stand- all but one. When Amy looked at him, she became extremely worried and terrified.

"Sonic!!" she cried, running to where his figure laid. She knelt down by him, and shook hem relentlessly. Then, the other five- Knuckles, Tails, Charmy, Espio, and Vector -encompassed them, a solemn look on their faces.

"Please..." Amy begged, tearful. "Please wake up!" However, Sonic remained unmoving. She soon gave up, thinking her worst fears had been realized. "No!!" she cried, her tears streaming down her face. The others became overcome with grief, and they all bowed their heads, mourning.

*OH SNAP!!! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!?! I know I hate Sonic, but not like _THIS_!! WHAAAA!!! ...But worry not, Sonic fans! I have a plan! ; )*

"Wait a minute," Espio said. "I've got an idea." (Ok, Espio has a plan.) He knelt down besides Sonic and placed his middle and index fingers on Sonic's wrist, searching for a pulse. Several tense moments passed while he searched. Eventually, a small smile appeared on his face.

"He's alive," Espio concluded. Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Really?!" Amy asked excitedly.

"Yes, but barely."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Espio pondered this for a moment, then said,

"I believe so. Everyone, stand back." He pulled out a black object with sparking metallic ends, and aimed it at Sonic's heart.

"What are you doing?!" Amy asked him, panicked.

"This will help save Sonic, trust me." Espio pressed a button on his black device, and a sparking ball of energy shot from the end of it, piercing Sonic's heart. Instantly, Sonic sprang up into the air, landing unsteadily on his feet.

"Whoa..." he said, dazed. "What the heck just happened?" Amy ran up to him, hugging him tightly.

"You're alright! You're alright!!" she kept saying in an excited tone. Sonic tried to push her away, but she wouldn't budge.

"Amy, please, just give me a minute." Slowly, she let go of him and stepped back a few feet. Sonic looked around him, seeing the beach setting he was in, and the six others staring at him with worried expressions. He regarded each of them, but he kept his look on Espio; namely at what was in his hands.

"Is that-- a tazer?!" he asked him. Espio nodded. "But, _why?!_"

"I had to, if you were to be saved," he said. "You're welcome."

"Save me?! Why would I need to be-" his eyes widened when a remembrance came to him. "Is everyone alright?!" He began to look frantically among them. Amy walked up to him them, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We're fine, Sonic, thanks to you. Please calm down." Sonic looked at her and took in a deep breath.

"Sorry, guys," he said to all of them. "I just remembered being in that forest with Shadow, and he was gonna…"

"Don't worry; it's fine!" Tails reassured him. "We're just glad you're alright."

"Yeah… To be honest, I didn't know if I could pull that off. I had to try, though and fortunately it seems to have worked." He then looked at Espio, Vector, and Charmy, and handed them the Emerald, much to their surprise. "Here."

"Why're you givin' it to us?" Vector asked.

"Consider it payback. You guys saved my life, and I repay my debts." He insisted for them to take the Emerald, which they reluctantly did. "But..." Charmy started. "You guys really need it more than us. Those two guys're really strong, and from the way they acted, they'll be after you again, so keep it." He handed it back to Sonic. Everyone looked at him with shocked faces; he never took control like this. "What?" he asked, uncomfortable with the six pairs of eyes staring at him.

"For once, Charmy, you may have a point," Vector told him. Charmy gave him an offended glare.

"For once?! _For once?! _What do you mean, 'for once'?!" He flew in to attack Vector, but Espio held him back.

"Stop it! Fighting isn't going to solve anything!" Espio shouted to him. After a moment of struggling, Charmy gave in.

"Guys, I can't accept this," Sonic said to them.

"Well, neither can we," Charmy argued.

"Sure you can! Just take it!"

"But you guys need it more!"

"Oh, for crying out loud…" Knuckles muttered under his breath. He walked up to them and grabbed the Emerald from Sonic's hands. "If neither of you are gonna take it, _I _will!"

"Fine then, as long as you guys have it!" Charmy said. "Let's go, guys." However, Espio and Vector stared at him with slightly disbelieving looks.

"What?" he asked them. They said nothing; rather, they shook their heads and joined up with Charmy to leave.

"Well, see ya guys and thanks again," Vector said, and the three of them ran off into the forest.

"Glad that's over," Knuckles said, exasperated. "Now, where were we before all this started?"

"Right about here," Sonic said in a sadder tone. He walked up to Amy and gave her a quick, yet affectionate kiss on her injured cheek, surprising everyone. Sonic then held that cheek in his hand and gazed upon it with deep regret.

"I'm so sorry for this, Amy," he said to her. "I promise you I'll never let it happen again." He closed his eyes, then finished, "And this way, I never will." He released Amy from his grasp and began to walk towards the foliage, leaving the other three completely distraught.

"Where are you going?" Amy asked.

"It doesn't matter."

"What do you mean?"

"That I was serious when I said what I did earlier. As much as I hate it, I have to leave you guys. For your own good."

"Sonic, you can't honestly still think that! You just saved our lives!" Sonic didn't respond, but began to walk faster. Amy, Tails, and Knuckles ran to keep up with him.

"Sonic!" Amy kept calling him. "There's gotta be some other reason why you won't stay with us! Please, just tell us!" Eventually, Sonic gave in to her pleas. He suddenly stopped and whipped around to confront them.

"You wanna know why?" he asked. His voice was strained, and his eyes were tearful. "Everyday, I'm gonna have to live with what I've done to you- do you have any idea how hard that is? But without you, I can at least try to forget about it. With you, forgetting's impossible, 'cause the evidence is staring at me, a constant reminder. I can't deal with that; it's just… too painful. So please understand why I'm doing this. It's for my own selfish reasons, and I'm sorry it has to be this way." He ran deeper into the forest, abandoning the other three, who looked after him with misery on their faces.

Sonic sped through the forest, allowing his tears to freely all down his face. He didn't want to leave them; it was the last thing he wanted, but staying with them would tear him apart even faster, having to face his guilt day in and day out, so this was the lesser of two evils for him.

After a while, Sonic encountered a clearing, which surprised him, because there had not been one there before. He stopped at the edge of the opening and was surprised to find that he was not alone. The moon provided enough light to reveal that the other figure was shaped much like he was; nearly an exact copy. He was as black as the night sky; the only variation was the crimson streaks in his quills.

_Shadow! _Sonic thought. His initial reaction was to attack him, but he found himself strangely stymied. He kept wondering why he couldn't finish him, but as he looked at him, he came to a conclusion- there was nothing more that he could do that would make Shadow any worse than he was. Shadow was kneeling on the ground, but what struck him most was the look on his face. His head was bowed and his eyes were closed, but they had a troubled air about them, genuine misery. Sonic never imagined that he would fine Shadow like this; maybe that was why he was so astonished. It was the first time he had seen Shadow truly vulnerable.

"Sonic!" a voice called from behind him. Shadow's eyes snapped open then, piercing Sonic like a dagger. Sonic ignored the voice, unable to avert from Shadow's glare. Those red eyes held despair at first, changing to shock, then finally settling into a mix of anger and embarrassment. He stood up and dashed out of the clearing, but not before Sonic noticed what Shadow was hoping he wouldn't- that his irises were not the only part of his eyes that were red. Soon afterwards, Tails caught up to Sonic, followed by Knuckles and Amy.

"I'm glad… we found you…" Tails said, breathing heavy. "We need… to talk."

"We've talked all we need to," Sonic said.

"No Sonic, you were the only one who talked. Now it's your turn to listen," Amy told him. "We think there's a way we can work this out."

"Amy, there's no-"

"Quiet a minute! Let us explain. We're willing to compromise. You say you need to stay away from us, right? Well, how about putting a time limit on it? Maybe two or three days…"

"A week. Give me a week, then we'll go from there. Starting now." Sonic flew past them, running deeper into the forest.

"See you in a week then," Amy said softly, and the three of them walked into another part of the woods.

**STOP!!:** Alright, here's the part where I mentioned where you could read. And so you're not confused I'll give you another quick recap: Sonic managed to warp everyone back to the beach that I mentioned in Chapter 5, but he was all unconcious. Everyone was kinda upset, but Sonic was revived (by a method too stupid to mention). To make it short, Sonic took the Emerald after arguing with Team Chaotix for a bit, then he ran off. After a bit, Sonic found Shadow, who was all upset about what happened at the end of Chapter 5, but he soon ran off. Then Tails, Amy, and Knuckles caught up with Sonic and tried to convince Sonic to come with them, but he's all convinced that he shouldn't be around them due to what happened in Chapter 4. But, finally agrees to stay with them, but only after a week. Then he ran off again, and that's where the story picks up. Read on!

Shadow ran aimlessly through the forest, his mind filled with a fury that suppressed the true feelings of agony his shattered heart now contained. All the while, numerous questions resonated through his head- what was wrong with him? Why on earth were these emotions plaguing him? This had _never _happened to him before. Then again, neither did anything in these past three days. He had started out just as normally as he always had, and now he was thinking of Rouge as… something more than just his "partner in crime".

He paused for a moment, overwhelmed by his next thought- it could never happen. Not now. He had ruined any chance of it even becoming a possibility. It doesn't matter anyways; Rouge could be anywhere by now, and probably gone forever…

Shadow then went to a nearby tree and leaned his back against it, using his hand to support his head. He closed his eyes in defeat, having lost the battle with his heart's emotions. They affected every part of his body, and left his mind thinking about the past three days, wandering as far back as when he was at that dock.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, having come up with an idea. He had always gone to that dock when he needed to think; maybe Rouge did too. It was a longshot and a crazy idea, but it was an idea so crazy that it just might be right. Shadow began to run through the forest again with a newfound determination; maybe he had a chance to see her one last time.

*Aww! How… bittersweet! Sure, Shadow's upset, but he cares!! Double aww!! And now we're getting somewhere! I promise, this next part is what you've been waiting for, so please continue on. : )*

**One hour later…**

Shadow skated non-stop through the various terrain until he finally reached the edge of that familiar jungle, and the dock lay just fifty feet beyond. He stopped then, preparing himself for whatever it was that could face him on the other side. He took in a deep breath, then broke through the remaining foliage. Once through, a huge wave of relief washed over him, because he had been right.

Rouge was there; her back was faced towards him, but she seemed to be looking out over the black ocean. Cautiously, Shadow walked toward her, stopping when he reached where the dock began.

"Stay away from me Shadow," Rouge said flatly, somehow aware of his presence.

"Please, just listen to me. I'll leave you forever afterwards, if that's what you want."

"…I don't trust you enough to believe you." Shadow's heart sank slightly at this, but nonetheless he pressed on.

"Then I'll try to convince you," he said. He walked up to her, turned her around, kept two firm hands on her shoulders to keep himself at arm's length, and looked into her shocked blue eyes.

"Rouge, if you listen to what I have to say, I swear to you that you will never see me again, if you want that." Rouge didn't answer at first; she was too caught up in Shadow's expression. It was a nearly indecipherable look, but she could see the genuine honesty that resided in his eyes.

"Fine," she said. "What is it?" Shadow breathed a sigh of relief, and then began to explain.

"First, I want to say that I'm not here to ask you to forgive me; you have every right to hate me and want to avoid me. I understand that. But I am here because they way I acted when you left wasn't right, and I want you to know I didn't mean any of what I said. Also, I feel you deserve an apology, and a better departure than what I gave you. So goodbye Rouge, and I'm sorry."

He let go of her then and walked back into the foliage, leaving her completely stunned. During these mere five minutes, any opinion she had of Shadow was entirely reversed. He changed right before her eyes, from someone who constantly unnerved her to someone more… approachable. Maybe she could convince him to keep this side; then maybe she wouldn't have to force herself to avoid him. With this thought, she took off into the jungle after him, hoping she wasn't too late.

*Wow…! Major spark-flying here!! Shadow was soooo honest! And Rouge was convinced!! Will I make it last? Maybe… : )*

Shadow traversed through the thick jungle, unaware that he was being followed. He was distracted by the emotion he was feeling- a strange, calm sensation. At first it puzzled him, but he soon concluded that it was from the closure he had obtained. He now knew that he and Rouge were destined to be apart, and even though this pained him, it gave him a kind of serenity, knowing that something in his life was given an end. Soon, he arrived in that well-known clearing, and pressed in the center of the purple flower to proceed inside Eggman's base.

A minute later, Shadow was deposited into the cold metallic hallways. He walked through them until he reached the two iron doors; he figured he should at least try to find out his purpose; that's why he had gotten mixed up in all of this. He was about to open the doors, but hesitated when he heard voices on the other side. Shadow placed his ear against it and began to listen in.

"Now I assume you three have been successful in you mission?" a distorted voice asked. Silence followed. "No? Well, why not?" Again, silence. "Answer me!"

"Well…" another voice began. "We did have the Emerald, but Charmy here gave it back."

"What?!" the first voice snapped. "How could you?! I give you one task, and-"

"Wait a minute!" a third, high-pitched voice cut in. "Yeah, I did give it back, but I do have this." There was a pause, then the second voice said,

"Where did you get _that?!"_

"None of your business! It's not my fault you don't pay attention!"

"Silence!!" the distorted voice interjected. "I'm not paying you to argue! Now place that Emerald on my desk and leave me."

It was quiet then. Shadow soon heard footsteps come towards the door; he stepped away from it and hid himself within the shadows. The doors opened then, and three came out- Charmy, Espio, and Vector. They walked past Shadow without noticing him and continued to proceed down the hall. Once they turned a corner, Shadow burst into the room, furious. He ran up to Eggman, who sat in his chair admiring the green Emerald in his hand, and grabbed him by his collar, burning his enraged eyes into Eggman's.

"Shadow, I-" Eggman started.

"Save it!" Shadow shouted back at him. "Why the _hell _were they here?! You think I need help getting those damn Emeralds?! I don't think so!! And let me tell you something: I have half a mind to kill you right here and now, but you have something I want and I have to keep you alive to get it. So remember this- never double-cross me like this again, or I swear I'll murder you without a second thought." He let go of him and stormed out of the room. Shadow kept his fury all throughout his journey to the room. He slammed open the door and when he looked inside, his anger vanished, being replaced by pure shock with what he saw.

"It's… _you_…!" he breathed.

*And here we stop! Again I leave you hanging! Ha! But I do have something to say: Shadow has quite the way with words… Wow. That's all for now guys, and see you in Part 7!*


	7. Trust

*Hey, check it out! No warnings, no denouncing stories! That means that this Chapter is officially completely readable. Yep, read it all. I sorta kinda redeemed myself in this one, so the characters should be on track (within general reason) Now, do enjoy my attempt at redemption!*

"Yes Shadow, it is me," the other said.

"But… _how?!_" Shadow stammered, putting a hand to his head.

"Hey, are you okay? Here, sit down." She walked up to him and guided him to the bed. Shadow sat down and could only manage to stare at her with a look of disbelief on his face.

"I think I'm fine, it's just… Rouge, I can't believe you're back. Especially after what happened-" he started.

"That's why I'm here; I need to talk to you about that. I realize I said that I would never want to see you again if what happened did, but that was before. What happened at the dock… changed things. You really surprised me Shadow; I could tell you were truly being honest with me and… I liked that. And, I wanna ask you something."

"Anything."

"It's more of a deal, really. I'll come back and do this again if you promise me one thing- please try to act more like you did a few moments ago. That's the side of you I'd… like to be around more often. Could you maybe do that?"

"Of course. If that's what you want."

A smile soon appeared on her face. "Thanks, Shadow. It means a lot to me." They were silent for a moment, then Rouge took in a deep breath and began to speak again.

"Listen, Shadow," she began nervously. "I had been thinking, and since you were honest with me, I wanna be honest with you."

"About what?"

She sighed again. "I didn't come back just to ask you something. There's more to it than that."

"More?"

"Yes. Back at the dock, you were a completely different person; I hardly recognized you. You changed, for whatever reason, into someone… I could talk to. So I figured I would; about what I had asked you, and about something that I need to tell you; something I can't keep to myself anymore."

"What?" Shadow asked nervously.

"Well, during these past three days, I discovered something. It was something that had always been there, but something I always ignored- no, denied myself, because I always thought that what I wanted from it… would never be possible. But what you did showed me that there might be a chance after all. So, I feel that I should tell you… how I really feel… about-" she took in a deep breath. "-you." Shadow's eyes widened, utterly astonished by what he was hearing. His heartbeat was soon racing out of control.

"Shadow, I've felt this way ever since I met you. At first I didn't know what it was, or why it was happening to me. As the years passed, I finally figured it out, but I kept it to myself."

"Why?" he cut in.

"Because I was afraid of how you'd react." Subconsciously, Shadow slightly leaned in closer to her, and said in a low tone,

"Don't be."

She hesitated her words, but she took no time in leaning in towards him.

"Shadow," she said softly while she moved to him.

"Yes?"

"I think I'm…" Her voice trailed off; their action would speak louder than any of her words. Their faces continually got closer- dangerously so. They became like magnets that were placed too close together- each so attracted to the other; they were unable and unwilling to pull away. As each second passed, the space between their faces grew smaller, being almost completely consumed, when,

"_-this!" _another voice said. Its owner shoved open their door, causing them to snap their heads in that direction. What they saw shocked them; a small bee was hovering in the doorway, gazing at them with wide eyes and an opened mouth. Soon, another joined them.

"What're ya starin' at, Charmy?" the second voice asked. Its owner joined up with Charmy, and as he looked into the room, a look of embarrassment crossed his face.

"Uh… Sorry about this… Charmy here doesn't know how to knock…" he said awkwardly. However, Charmy had gotten over his shock.

"Oooooh!!" he said excitedly, talking to the other. "Did ya see that, Vector?! Did ya see what they were gonna do?! They were sooo gonna kiss!!" He began laughing uncontrollably, but was soon silenced by Vector's hand slapping against his mouth.

"Stop it!" Vector said. "They can do whatever they want without you gettin' in their business!" Charmy managed to push Vector's hand away long enough to say,

"But it's not my fault! You're the one makin' me open every door, 'cause _someone _can't follow directions!"

"Those 'directions' were impossible to follow! You try-"

"Shut up both of you!!" Shadow interjected. He marched to the door, completely fed up with them. "Let me tell you something," he said through gritted teeth. "If you wanna live, I suggest you leave. Now."

"But, our boss-" Charmy started. Shadow glared at him, cutting his sentence off.

"Do you really think I give a damn about your 'boss'?!" Shadow continued. "As far as I'm concerned, you don't have one. You aren't needed here; I can get the Emeralds just fine, so you three can get yourselves out of my sight, this base, and most importantly, my life."

"And who's gonna make us?" Espio asked threateningly.

"Trust me; you don't want me to 'make you'- you wouldn't survive, I can promise you that." The three of them glared at Shadow, but decided it was for the best if they left.

"Fine, we'll play it your way, Shadow," Vector said coldly. "C'mon guys." He walked down the hall, with Charmy and Espio following behind. Once they were gone, Shadow slammed the door shut.

"Is everything okay?" Rouge asked. Shadow waited a moment before answering her; he wanted to calm down before he spoke.

"Yes. I just needed to get rid of them," he said as evenly as he could.

"Alright then…" Her voice trailed off again. When Shadow turned to look at her, she was sitting on her bed, lost in thought.

"What?" Shadow asked her.

"He was right…" she said to herself. She looked at him then and said, "That kid was right. We were gonna…" Then a look of horror crossed her face. "Oh my God!" she said frantically, standing up. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-! I don't know what came over me!"

"It's fine, really," Shadow reassured her. "Don't worry about it."

"But still, I shouldn't have! I promise not to let that happen again." She let out a yawn then, and looked at the clock, surprised. "Wow, it's really late. We should get to sleep." Shadow nodded, and they each went to their sleeping areas. Shadow couldn't help but smile to himself; he now knew what he had hoped to be the truth- Rouge cares. That thought kept running through his mind, keeping him smiling even while he slowly slipped into the unconsciousness that came with sleep.

*Ha! I tease you yet again!! : P It's fun to be the author! But! This was majorly climatic! Now Shadow knows how Rouge feels! Eeek!! Will he tell her? Mum's the word over here! Mwahahaha!*

The next morning, Shadow woke up to the sound of Eggman's voice blaring through the intercom beside Rouge's bed.

"Shadow!" the intercom repeatedly sounded. "Come to my office immediately!!"

Angrily, Shadow got out of his bed, walked over to the other intercom and punched it, silencing it. Quiet instantly filled the room. He left then and made his way through the twisting hallways until he finally reached Eggman's office. Shadow shoved open the doors and walked up to Eggman's desk.

"What?!" he snapped. Eggman paused a minute before responding.

"I need to discuss with you the current situation. As you know, we only have three Emeralds in our possession."

"And?!"

"I have become impatient with this slow progress; I need those Emeralds. So, I have come up with a plan that I believe will speed things up. Since you on your own have shown… incompetence, I have provided you with assistance."

"Incompetence?! _Assistance?! _Just who do you think I am?! I said this before- I don't need help with those Emeralds!"

"Wait, let me rephrase that. I've provided you with some motivation."

"If you think those three guys've-"

"No, not them! They have strangely quit. I have something else." Eggman ducked behind his desk for a moment, the reappeared with a silver briefcase in his hands. He gave it to Shadow and continued to explain. "Time is of the essence, Shadow, for us to have all of the Emeralds. I realize that you have delivered three of them within this small amount of time, but I need the process to go faster."

"What, like all of them in a day?" Shadow asked, sarcastic.

"Precisely." Eggman was serious. "Let's look at it this way; the sooner I get what I want, the sooner you get what you want. And as I said before, I think that will help. Open it." Shadow obeyed, and was shocked to fine a shiny silver revolver resting inside.

"What is this-" Shadow started.

"Motivation," Eggman interrupted. "Collect those Emeralds- by any means necessary." He waved his hand, motioning for Shadow to leave. Shadow did, weapon in hand, pondering all the ways he could use it successfully.

*Uh-oh! I think this should sum things up nicely: Shadow + lethal weapon = yikes!! 'Nuff said.*

Meanwhile, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy went their separate ways after Sonic left them, and Tails has busied himself with another project inside his workshop. Suddenly, there was a knock on his door, and when he opened it, he was completely astonished with who he saw. Sonic was standing in the doorway, a mix of sadness and exhaustion on his face.

"Mind if I come in?" Sonic asked wearily.

"Not at all, but… are you okay?"

"Well, I kinda need to talk to you about that."

"Well, please come in first."

Sonic did, and he leaned against the wall adjacent to the door, starting to explain. "You've provably noticed that I haven't been myself lately, right?" Tails nodded. "Well, I… honestly don't know why, and I was hoping you could help me."

"No problem. So, what exactly is wrong?"

"Well, I just haven't felt like myself at all. My feelings've gone all 'extreme' on me. Like, if I'm mad, I'm furious, and if I'm sad, I'm… depressed. And what's weird is that the littlest things set them off. You saw what happened yesterday."

Tails nodded again. "And when do you think these changes started?"

"I'd say yesterday right when Amy showed up. Before that I was fine."

"Odd…" Tails said distantly. His eyes wandered slowly around the room until he looked at the Emerald in Sonic's hand. There was something about it that caught his eye, and he soon got an idea.

"Sonic, have you kept that Emerald with you ever since Amy gave it to you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think I've got the answer to your problem."

"Really? What is it?"

"It'd be easier if I showed you. Follow me." Tails started to walk up the staircase, with Sonic following behind. On the upper floor there was a desk holding a laptop computer, and next to it a chamber of some sort that extended from floor to ceiling.

"Tails, what is all this?" Sonic asked.

"When you left yesterday, I came back here to continue studying the Emeralds."

"What is it with you and the Emeralds?"

"They're the most powerful things in the world. They can't help sparking interest into the curious. Anyways, during my research I found that the Emeralds each emit energy naturally. Normally, it's neutral; we can't feel it. But, that can be manipulated."

"How?"

"That's what I wanna find out. So, I set up this chamber so I can see what's really up with these Emeralds."

"Huh. But… how'd you figure out that it was the Emerald doin' all of this?"

"I didn't; it's just a hypothesis. But, at first I put two and two together. You weren't acting yourself, you had the Emerald with you the entire time, so there you go. But then, I noticed something else. The Emerald… looked different."

"How?"

"You know how the Emeralds' colors look the same throughout? That one wasn't. Let me show you." Tails took the white gem from Sonic and brought it into the sunlight, turning it so that split-second glimpses of a red color were visible within it.

"See that? That's not normal. Something's up with it, and I'm gonna find out what." Tails put the Emerald into the chamber, then started typing things into his laptop. Soon, green beams of light passed through the jewel and various numbers appeared on the screen. Tails scanned through the information, his eyes widening with amazement as he went through it.

"Incredible!" he said at last.

"What is it?" Sonic asked, looking over Tails' shoulder.

"This Emerald's energy's been modified all right. It's giving off tremendous amounts of negative energy. But what's more amazing is what's causing it. There's… DNA in there."

"What?! How's that even possible?!"

"I honestly have no idea. Whoever did it is extremely technologically advanced. They even managed to extract the part that encodes the individual's emotions and put it in with such precision it's hardly noticeable." Tails was silent for a moment, then continued. "Sonic, this is bad. If they can do this, who knows what they could do on a large scale. We've gotta stop 'em."

"One problem- we don't know who did it."

"You're right… Wait a minute; Amy said she found it, right? If she told us where, we could find out who's behind all this."

"Perfect! Let's go!" The twosome ran out of the workshop and towards the train station so they could hopefully get the answers they most desperately needed.

*How was that, people? Did that fix the Sonic problem? Well, I couldn't have done it without the ingenious suggestion from Mimzy13. Otherwise, this story would've taken way longer to write. So a million times thanks!! But, continuing on…*

Fifteen minutes later, Sonic and Tails arrived in the nearby city of Station Square, and entered the apartment complex that Amy resided in. Once they found hers, Sonic knocked on the door.

"Amy, are you there?" he asked. "Me and Tails need to talk to you." However, there was no response. After a few more minutes of unanswered knocking, they walked inside the apartment. Strangely, it was pitch-black inside; no lights were on and the curtains were closed.

"That's weird…" Sonic said to himself. He felt through the darkness, searching for a light source. Soon his fingers brushed by a lamp-like object, and he fumbled with it for a moment trying to turn it on. Once he did, his eyes grew wide, shocked. The room was a complete mess; most of the furniture was overturned, and there was glass on the floor. But most troubling, Amy was nowhere to be found.

"Amy? Amy, where are you?" Sonic called out. Then a faint moan came from somewhere inside the apartment. Frantically, Sonic and Tails searched through the house, opening every door, only revealing more destroyed rooms. Eventually, Sonic came across a door partially hidden in the hall. When he opened it, he discovered Amy on the floor in the tiny closet. Her hands, ankles, and mouth were duct-taped, and she looked at him with genuine terror in her eyes.

"Amy!! What happened?! Who did this?! Never mind, lemme get ya outta here." He leaned down to pick her up, but she shuffled back away from him and shook her head frantically. "What's the matter?" he asked, confused by her reaction.

"Nothing, faker, she's just being smart," a dark voice said coolly. "And if you want either of you to live, I suggest you do the same."

"Just who do you think you are?!" Sonic asked while turning around. Once he had his question was answered; he was confronted by two glowing red eyes and a villainous grin only a foot in front of his face.

"Shadow," he growled, giving him a hatred-filled glare. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Simply what I've been obligated to do: collecting the Emeralds by any means necessary."

"And what's that-" Before Sonic finished, Shadow answered his question; he flew around Sonic with impossible speed, entered the closet and roughly pulled Amy up. He then pointed his concealed revolver at her head, much to Sonic's horror.

"Don't you dare hurt her!!" Sonic snapped, staring to advance towards Shadow.

"One more step and she dies, Sonic," Shadow threatened as he clicked the weapon into its loaded position. Sonic stopped dead in his tracks. "Very good. Now listen closely- I think I've been very patient with you in terms of these Emeralds, and that patience is wearing thin. Put simply, I'm tired of not getting what I want. So, I'll make this very simple for you: hand over that Emerald, and I spare you little girlfriend here. If you refuse, well, use your imagination."

Several tense seconds passed as Sonic stood there, stymied. As he looked at Amy, he saw her slightly shake her head, arguing against the choice she knew he would make. Sonic couldn't help but admire her self-sacrifice, but he wouldn't allow her to make that decision. It wasn't hers to make.

"All right, Shadow, you win," Sonic sighed, his tone defeated. "Just hand her over first." Shadow walked up to Sonic, dragging Amy behind him. He threw her into Sonic, and as Sonic caught her, he handed the diamond-like gem to Shadow.

"It's been a pleasure working with you," Shadow said smoothly. "Now I must leave."

"Who's stoppin' you?" Sonic snapped. Shadow hesitated for a moment, then teleported away without another word. Sonic began to release Amy from her binding, and once finished he asked,

"What happened here?"

"I don't really know. I was just minding my own business when someone knocked on my door. When I answered it, Shadow was there. I tried to shut the door on him, but he pushed it open and started to walk towards me. So then I started to back away from him, and he told me to wait a minute and that he just wanted to talk to me. I panicked and ran away, and he started chasing after me. I ran thought the whole house, which he destroyed, as you can see. Then stupid me had to open the closet, getting myself trapped. Shadow caught up to me and grabbed me, then taped me up with that duct tape. He threw me in the closet and told me to stay still if… I wanted you to live. I did, and Shadow shut the door on me. I sat there for what seemed like forever, then you showed up."

"He didn't hurt you or anything, did he?"

"No, he just scared me. But he might've if you two didn't show up when you did. Thank you. But just out of curiosity, what were you guys doing here?"

"Oh yeah," Tails said finally, after being silent the entire time. "We needed to ask you something."

"Where'd you find that white Emerald at?" Sonic asked.

"Um… I was taking a walk, and I just found it lying on the ground."

"Just lyin' there?"

"Yeah. Then I noticed some kind of small square hole half-covered by leaves nearby. I looked down into it, but it was completely dark. Why?"

"Well, that Emerald was changed in a really bad way, and we were hoping that if you knew where you found it, then we could stop whoever's behind it."

"Wait a minute," she said. "I think I remember hearing someone from down the hole. He was mad about something; I heard stuff crashing down there. His voice sounded familiar though…" Her voice trailed off, and she was deep in thought. Soon, her face lit up with a realization.

"Eggman! That's who I heard!" she said at last.

"Eggman?! We shouldda known he was behind all this! We've gotta find him before it's too late!" The three of them started to make their way to the door, but when they opened it, they were surprised to find Knuckles standing in the doorway.

"Knuckles?!" Sonic asked. "What're ya doing here?!"

"I've been lookin' all over for you guys!" he said. "I've got something I think you'll like." Knuckles pulled out an amber colored jewel with a smirk on his face. Sonic, Tails, and Amy just stared at him with wide eyes, much to Knuckles' satisfaction.

*: P Nyah! I leave you hanging yet again! Don't worry, we'll get back to them eventually… But now, we can get to more fun things! Here we go!*

In an instant, Shadow reappeared outside the familiar iron doors leading to Eggman's office. He pushed them open and found Eggman sitting in his chair as if he was expecting him.

"Hello, Shadow!" Eggman said, oddly cheerful. "I see you've retrieved the Emerald. They didn't give you too much trouble, did they?"

"No, but… something about this particular Emerald doesn't feel right to me."

"Really? Bring it here," he said with honest concern. He knew better than to doubt Shadow's instincts. Eggman looked over the Emerald for a moment, then said,

"What happened to this Emerald is because of my doing. You see, I had been researching the Emeralds, and discovered that it was possible to alter the energy they produce either positively or negatively. This would cause the individual exposed to react in the respective manner. However, in order to get the desired effect, one would need a powerful something to act as a 'key' to unlock this power. As it turned out, the key was DNA."

"DNA?"

"Yes. Namely, yours."

"Excuse me?!"

"In order for that Emerald to emit negatively, the DNA had to be from someone who themselves were negative, and I saw no better candidate than you. So, I had gotten into your room one night and-"

"You stole my DNA?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I was merely thinking of the bigger picture. Imagine what we could do if that Emerald were truly all it was cracked up to be! We could gain the allegiance of anyone we desire; even Sonic!" Shadow considered this, closing his eyes and folding his arms, letting out a sigh. He remained silent for a moment, then said,

"Listen, I'm only here to collect your Emeralds, not be a part of your evil schemes. So, you _will _reverse what you did."

"But I-" Shadow's eyes snapped open, cutting Eggman's protest off. He glared at him for a second, then turned to leave the room. Once at the iron doors, Shadow paused, and simply said,

"Fix it. Or else." He flashed Eggman his weapon and passed through the doors, leaving Eggman truly stunned.

*Ya know, I realize that last little bit was weak, but I've been rewriting that part over and over, so you're lucky you got anything. But as always, if you can do better, feel free to message me with your suggestions. Anyways, we've only got a teeeeeny section left, so hang on!*

Shadow walked through the halls and eventually came to his room. He opened the door and found Rouge standing there with her hands on her hips, much to Shadow's surprise.

"Where've you been?" she asked.

"Getting those Emeralds. We have another one."

"That's great, but you could've told me-" Rouge cut herself off, her voice disabled by what Shadow held on his hand. Shadow looked at her when she became quiet, and saw a look of terror in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He then followed Rouge's gaze with his eyes, and saw that she was staring at the weapon in his hand. A wave of horror rushed through him, realizing what Rouge must be thinking of him at that moment.

"Rouge, listen," he started, walking towards her. "I can explain this; I-"

"Don't bother," she said, her voice small. "Just please, please don't hurt me. Not again.

"Hurt you?! Rouge, I wouldn't do that. What makes you think I would?"

"You've done it before; why wouldn't you do it again?"

"Because you said it yourself- I changed."

"Did you?" Shadow instantly became more concerned; his worse suspicions may be realized.

"Rouge… Don't you believe me?"

"A better question would be, 'Do I trust you enough to believe you?'"

"Trust me?! What do you mean?"

"Think about it. If I can't trust you, how can I believe you?" Shadow paused; she left him with a burning question in his mind, one he was partially unwilling to ask.

"Then… do you trust me?" he said, a hint of desperation in his voice. Rouge hesitated then, and she refused to look at him.

"Do you?" he urged her. Rouge looked at him, remaining silent. She wanted to answer him, but she couldn't; she needed to know the answer to his question just as much as he did.

*Okay then! Don't you guys just LOVE cliffhangers? Haha, I know. But what you're really gonna hate is this: I'm pretty much ditching the effort here. I mean, I know what I wanna write, but I have no inspiration to write anymore of this, and with the writing of my Fugitive story (which is waaay better than this. If you haven't read it, I really think you should, and I'm not just saying that for my benefit) there'd be no time. I'm really sorry to anyone out there who actually liked this, but who knows; I have actually started a Chapter 8, and have a Chapter 9 and 10 (the ending) all in my head, so in a long time from now, maybe I will resume. Thanks for reading!*


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